Jack Daniel’s has been in the news a lot recently, as its parent company Brown-Forman has courted potential mergers with or acquisitions by two different companies—Sazerac (the owner of Buffalo Trace) and Pernod Ricard (the French company that controls Jameson Irish Whiskey). But the latest news is about the release of the new Special Release Small Batch Rye, a hazmat proof rye whiskey that somehow still manages to be drinkable, albeit in small doses.
Innovation has taken off at Jack Daniel’s over the past six or seven years, with a slew of new releases that prove that the distillery can make so much more than just Old No. 7 (not that there’s anything wrong with that best-selling classic). These include an American single malt that was aged for years in sherry casks; experimental cask finishes including tequila and table syrup barrels; a trio of excellent age statement whiskeys (10, 12, and 14 years old), some extremely high proof small batch releases; and the introduction of the first new mashbill in the distillery’s history when it added a rye whiskey. This new release, obviously, concerns the latter two innovations.
Jack Daniel’s launched its first rye in 2017, using a mashbill that kind of flips the traditional recipe around: 70 percent rye, 18 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. Over the years, the distillery has changed up its rye whiskey releases, starting with a Tennessee rye and eventually switching that to a bottled-in-bond version. Along the way, it’s released some other versions of note, some of which have been given very successful secondary maturations (the rye whiskey finished in table syrup barrels mentioned above), as well as a single barrel version (that was a bit too hot) and some other special expressions. This new special release takes its cue from the extremely high-proof Coy Hill whiskey that came out a few years ago, a small batch made up of barrels selected from the eponymous warehouse which yields whiskey that often reaches hazmat levels.
As a reminder, hazmat means that the whiskey is bottled at more than 140 proof, which the FAA has deemed unsafe to bring onboard an airplane. The sample I was able to try came in at 142.7 proof, which is firmly in hazmat territory. This rye was pulled from 129 barrels aged for an average of 10 years in the Coy Hill warehouse along with two others: Boiler Hill and Fire Brigade Fields. I’m usually rather skeptical of super strong whiskeys, as more often than not it becomes an exercise in stamina rather than pleasure, but there’s something about this whiskey that makes it an enjoyable sipper despite its aggressiveness. The color is a deep, ruddy amber brown, and the nose is full of alcohol and oak. As you sip—and do sip, don’t throw this one back—rich flavors begin to pop through the burn, including raisin, cherry, chocolate, black pepper, caramel cream, and bruleed grapefruit. The Jack Daniel’s signature banana note is more or less lost here, but it still does read as a rye whiskey—something that can be indiscernible at such a high proof.
Jack Daniel’s Special Release Small Batch Rye varies in proof from 142.7 to 146.1, and is available now at exclusively at the distillery ($65).
Authors
Jonah Flicker
