The Ultimate Jack Daniel's Buyer's Guide

Hey, welcome to Sipper Social Club, I'm Jeremy. Today I've got the entire Jack Daniels core range. Jack Daniels is the best-selling whiskey in all of the United States, one of the most recognizable brands in the entire world, but I'll let you know why this Tennessee whiskey is not considered a bourbon when I nose it, taste it, and give it a mark. So I've got eight bottles here. Jack Daniels does a lot of special editions that are released in different markets throughout the world, but currently this is the core range. And even though some of these whiskeys are meant to be mixed, I'm still going to go through, nose them, taste them, give them a score, just like I would any other whiskey I do on the channel. Then at the end, I'm going to go and make some cocktails out of some of these, see how that turns out. If you want to skip ahead to any point in the review, use the timestamps in the description down below. And because these whiskeys are going to be different prices in different markets, when I give points for value, I'm going to use a standardized price, which I got from Total Wine right in Tennessee, right where this stuff's made. Also big thanks to Lucy. She is a national brand ambassador for Canada. She provided most of these bottles for the review, so let's get into it. I said before that Jack Daniels is not considered a bourbon, and that's because of one additional step that this whiskey goes through before it's barreled. What they do at Jack Daniels is they charcoal filter all of their new make spirit. So right off the still, they take their spirit, they filter it through a 10 foot vat of charcoal that they make right on site. They use sugar maple wood, takes about three to five days for the whiskey to travel down these 10 foot high vatting of charcoal. And essentially what they're doing is they're pre-aging the spirit. According to master distiller Jeff Arnett, charcoal can accomplish in days, what the barrel takes a couple of years to accomplish. So essentially they're mellowing the whiskey with this like pre-aging process. And because bourbon laws are so strict, you can't have any additives, and that process of filtering through charcoal would be considered an additive. So that's why this is considered a Tennessee whiskey, not a bourbon. Starting off with one of the most popular whiskeys in the entire world, the old number seven. For the purposes of this review, I'm just going to list my tasting notes here, kind of just add to it as I go through. Let's see how this is on the nose. So right away I get this really nice nutty kind of note. It's almost like an almond peanut kind of mix. You definitely get maple on the nose too. Maple sugar, maple syrup kind of thing. Then you get like this kind of youthful kind of sharpness. You can definitely tell this is a younger whiskey. I almost get like a shoe polish kind of chemical kind of note to it, which I equate to youthfulness. But overall, there's some nice notes in here for sure. It is an enjoyable nose in my opinion. It's a cool palate. So again that maple definitely carries over. You get a little bit of like cola notes in there. That nuttiness too, that almond, that sweet almond peanut combo, really, really nice. But again, that finish, medium in length I'd say. You do get that like sharp, youthful, harsh-ish kind of bite to it. That like chemically kind of like shoe polish note does come in right there on the finish. But those notes, those like cherry notes, the maple, the nuttiness, all really nice. It's just you get hit with that harshness that comes at the end here. But I do like this whiskey. It does have some really nice flavor to it. It does pack a punch. It is one of those ones that kind of like, it hits you hard, but you kind of enjoy taking the blow, I'd say, you know, so to speak. Score on this one, I'm giving a nice 70, nice round 70 out of 100. I think it's a well-deserving score. Nice whiskey, just like a staple classic, you know. Value-wise on this one, $20 US at the Total Wine in Tennessee. I think that's a very justified score. And when I think scores are justified, I don't add or subtract value. I keep it at zero. So let's go 70 out of 100 on this. All right, moving on to the Gentleman Jack. The main difference between Gentleman Jack and No. 7 is that the Gentleman Jack has been charcoal mellowed twice. So they put this through their whole charcoal infiltration thing an additional time. Follow that 40% ABV. I didn't mention this is also 40% ABV. So let's see how the Gentleman Jack is on the nose. So very, very similar to the No. 7. You get those maple notes, that cherry note, but everything is just completely turned down. Let's say the volume on the No. 7 was like an 8 out of 10. Here, it's maybe like a 4.5 out of 10. So yeah, a lot less sharpness as well. That chemical kind of shoe polish note I was getting on the No. 7, don't pick it up really here at all. Maybe a little bit of added vanilla to this one on the nose. But again, everything is more muted, more calm, less harsh. Let's go palate. Again, that cola, maple sugar, maple syrup, chocolate note, all there. All really nice. All nice notes for sure on that one. But finish, a little shorter maybe. Definitely smoother in profile, I'd say. You don't get that chemical harshness as much as you do with the No. 7. But yeah, it's like a less vibrant version of this. Now, a lot of people are going to like that. I kind of like the rough notes you kind of get with this. It gives it more character. It gives it more vibrancy. Definitely a muted version of this, in my opinion. Score-wise for me, I don't like it as much. I like the profile of this one a bit better. I like that punch. I'm going to give this one 65 out of 100. For value, this one costs $24 at Total Wine in Tennessee. So you're paying a little bit more money for, in my opinion, lesser whiskey. So I'm going to take off one point for value. Bring it down to 64 out of 100. Let's move on to the single barrel. All right, single barrel select. If you're not aware, it's exactly what it sounds like. Someone has selected one single barrel to be bottled. Whereas something like this or this, they're selecting hundreds, if not thousands, of barrels from the warehouse, vatting that all together, bottling that as one giant batch. Here, someone is hand-selecting the barrel, making sure the quality is good enough to be bottled by itself. You might get a cast that's like off, a little off here and there. It's just going to be masked by the giant vatting that comes with batches like this. Here, with a single barrel, you're looking at probably getting the distilleries better quality barrels. So this was bottled in 2018 and it's at 47% ABV. So a little bit higher ABV than the previous two. Let's see how it is on the nose. Yeah, so completely different from the first two whiskeys for sure. You're getting a lot more bolder notes here, a lot more richness to it. You're still getting that like maple, that black cherry, those really good almond notes here. But everything is a lot more rich, a lot more enjoyable for sure on the nose. I'm not getting any of that youthful kind of bite to it. So I would say this whiskey is definitely older than the previous two for sure. Yeah, that's a lot. That's really, really nice. Get this like bubblegum note. Great on this one. It's a cool palate. It's really good. Maybe like a little bit of green apple coming in on the palate on this one. Really like that note. But the finish here, this is all about the finish. Longer finish, that almond note that comes through, really, really good. Spiciness that comes on this one. That spice note, really, really more refined, a lot more enjoyable than the previous ones. That harshness, it's mellowed out for sure. You still do get that like enveloping heat. It's not over the top. Maybe like the number seven was, where it was like that almost chemical kind of like shoe polish note. That doesn't exist in this one. So I'm definitely saying this one is older than these two for sure. A lot better. This is like a whiskey drinker's whiskey here. This is the one you can drink neat. Really, really good. Really nice viscosity on this too. Very enveloping mouth coating. Really, really nice stuff. Definitely a bolder finish. Really like this one. Score wise for me, this is getting 80 out of 100. For value, $40 US. So you're looking at double the price of the original, but I think you're almost getting like double the whiskey. This is something that a whiskey connoisseur is going to enjoy. This is something that it's in a different league of this stuff. I remember when they first started releasing these single barrels. I think they started in around 2015, give or take. I was like, finally, Jack Daniels is sharing some of that really good whiskey that they know they have there. You know, I'm sure the people at Jack Daniels were drinking this stuff for a long time, you know, picking out the really nice barrels, showing them amongst themselves. You know, they finally started to share it with the rest of us. So really awesome stuff. Something you wouldn't really expect if you're just used to the number seven. This is completely different whiskey. Really, really good. $40 definitely worth the price. I think it's justified going to keep the value at zero. So 80 out of 100 on this one. All right, moving on to the single barrel barrel proof. So the main difference between this and the select is that the barrel proof obviously coming in a cast strength 67.95% ABV on this. If you're unaware whiskey for the most part, it's coming out of the cask around 60 to 75% ABV, give or take. It depends on age and a bunch of different factors. But let's say that's a good ballpark. Then distilleries are watering it down to get it to 40% ABV. Like these two are 47% ABV. This one, no water added right from the cask. Let's see how this is on the nose. Before I know it, one more thing. One of the great things about high ABV whiskeys is that you can add your own water. And in my experience with this, it does take water really, really well. I do like to add a couple of drops. So I'll do one, two, three, four. Let's do six drops of water on this one. What it does is it brings down the ABV just a little bit, releases a little more flavor into the glass on the nose. Yeah, again, completely different beast than these two for sure. A lot more bold, a lot more intensity on the nose. You get all those nice flavors, you know, like the maple, the almond, like you did with these. But here you're getting this brown sugar note. That's very, very rich. Very awesome. Love that note on this. Yeah, I mean, this is a really nice whiskey and some herbal spices in here. Some clove even. Vanilla caramels there, of course. Yeah, this is like, this is a whiskey drinker's whiskey for sure. Let's go palate. That's really good. So pretty much everything I got on the palate, or sorry, on the nose is coming in on the palate now. That almond, maple, you know, brown sugar note. That brown sugar note is so good. It lingers to the finish. The finish is nice and long. This is where these two whiskeys stand out from these two is that finish. Drawn out much longer. This is a banana note on the finish on this. That is really, really nice. Like that a lot. Like, again, this is more like that whiskey connoisseur's kind of whiskey. And you wouldn't really think Jack Daniels is, you know, you drink this and you're used to something like this. And it's just completely different. I mean, you still get a little of that like house kind of style, that maple kind of almondy note, but just way more complexity. Finish, a lot more drawn out, way bolder and more flavor for sure. Don't get that kind of chemically kind of shoe polish note. The young kind of harshness on this one. This whiskey is definitely older for sure. Score wise for me on this one, this is an 85 out of 100. For value, you're looking at $56 US for this. So $16 more than that for the barrel proof. I'd say it's definitely worth it. I'm going to say it's even great value at that price. This can compete with some other really, really good high proof bourbons in my opinion. So I'm going to add one additional point for value. 86 out of 100 on this. All right, moving on to the rye whiskeys. This is the straight rye, bottled at 45% ABV. Let's see how this one is on the nose. So you get some typical rye notes here and the little spiciness. You do a little like maple sugar to this. But everything here is very like mild. It's very like toned down almost. Almost like the step between the number seven and the gentleman. This one seems very, very muted as well. I do get a little bit of that dill pickle note. Sometimes I do get dill pickle notes in rye whiskeys. They can be okay. They can be a little off putting. I say this one's just a little off putting for me on the nose. Let's go palette. The maple on this one seems a little more artificial. Whereas I was getting it more kind of like authentic, natural maple notes. On the rye, a little more artificial in my opinion. A little bit like spirity alcohol taste. Just a tad. On this. But again, everything is just like very muted. Finish, pretty short I'd say. Very light. Which is interesting because this is bottled at 45% ABV. Maybe they bottled it at 45% just because putting this at 40% might be just completely washing it out. It's okay. I've definitely had better rye whiskeys score wise for me. I'm going to give it 66 out of 100. And for $30 US, I think at that price point, you're getting into some ryes that are a little bit better in my opinion. So I'm going to take off a point for value, bring it down to 65 out of 100 on this one. All right, the single barrel rye. This one is also bottled in 2018. 47% ABV on this. Let's see how it is on the nose. So you get that like rye spice on this one. Some herbal notes. Definitely like a walnut kind of comes out big time for me on this. But again, it's very muted. It's very toned down. It's very subtle. For 47%, it doesn't nose like it's a 47% whiskey. It noses more like it's 40 or even maybe less than that. Yeah, very mild. Let's try a palate. So a lot of herbal notes here. A little bit of maple. I do get a really nice finish, like a almost Christmas style baked goods on this one. Almost like maybe like a fruitcake or like some kind of Christmassy dessert. Do like that note. Don't get the dill pickle note here, which I didn't really enjoy too much on that one. Don't pick it up on there. Nicer finish for sure. The finish kind of where this one shines. Decent whiskey. But again, the whole volume, the intensity on this is very low. You wouldn't expect this to be 47%. It's decent. Not in love with it, but I'm going to give it a decent score. Let's go 73 out of 100 on this. $42 US at Total Wine in Tennessee for this one. I'm going to take off a point for value. I think that's a little bit too much for what you're getting here. Let's bring it down to 72 out of 100. Let's go on to the flavored whiskeys. All right, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey. This actually isn't even a whiskey. It's considered a honey liqueur. What they do is they make a honey liqueur at Jack Daniel's and then they blend that with some Jack Daniel's No. 7. Bottled at 40, sorry, 35% ABV. Whiskey needs to be bottled at least 40% to be called whiskey. 35% this is considered a liqueur. Normally flavored whiskey like this would never touch a glass like this, but for the sake of the review, I'm going to nose it, taste it, give it a mark just like with anything else on the nose. It's actually like a decent nose. It's very, very sweet. It's all honey, almost like a honey like cough drop. Kind of get that note. Some caramel in here. Very, very sweet. Almost like an artificial kind of caramel note though. I actually get like a golden graham cereal kind of note to this one. You ever had golden graham cereals? I get that on here. But yeah, it's like it's artificial smelling. It's like it's artificial honey kind of, but very sweet. It's not off-putting whatsoever though. Let's go palate. So it tastes like literal honey. It tastes like cheap processed honey that you get at a store. Very, very sweet. Almost like overly sweeted caramel maple a little bit. It's just way too sweet to drink. I mean, you can't drink this. It's not meant to be drank like this, obviously. I guess some people would throw it on ice, but you wouldn't be able to have too much of it. It's just way too sweet. It feels like a lot of sugar has been added to this one. But I mean, this is meant for cocktails and it actually tastes like it would make a good cocktail. So we'll see how that goes at the end of this review. I'll do some cocktails up. But I mean, you can't drink it. You can't drink it like this. Score wise for me, since it's undrinkable, I'm not going to be able to give it over 50. I'm giving it actually 48 out of 100. But again, keep in mind, this is a mixing liqueur, not meant to be drank like this. All right, the Tennessee Fire. This is a cinnamon liqueur. Again, they make a cinnamon liqueur in-house. They blend it with Jack Daniel's number seven. Ball that 35% ABV. So technically not a whiskey cinnamon liqueur. Let's see how it is on the nose. It's just all cinnamon hearts. Just pure liquid cinnamon heart candy. That's all I get on this. Maybe a little bit like an authentic cinnamon stick, maybe perhaps. But if they wanted to make a liquid cinnamon heart liqueur, they did it. This is perfect replication for sure. If you like cinnamon hearts, you'll like this nose. But again, really, really sweet. Let's go palate. 100% cinnamon heart. It's just liquid cinnamon hearts. Not that it's bad. I actually really like cinnamon hearts and that actually tastes pretty decent. But again, you can't drink this stuff. It's so, so sweet. There's got to be some added sugar in here for sure. A decent amount. Maybe actually probably a lot. So again, keep in mind my score. It's not whiskey. It's not meant to be drank like this. I'm giving it 49 out of 100 value. 20 bucks a bottle. This was also 20 bucks a bottle. I think that's for a mixer. This is actually, I have a good feeling. It's going to be a good mixing whiskey. Value, I'm going to leave it at zero. That means the price is justified. 20 bucks, sure. 49 out of 100. All right, so there you have it. There are the scores. Definitely the single barrel barrel proof was my favorite. Definitely a whiskey drinker's whiskey. It can compete with some of those higher end bourbons out there. Being a single barrel, they're all going to vary. I did review a 2016 one that I scored 89 out of 102. Definitely, there is some batch variance for sure. You're going to get that with single barrels, but there are some gems out there for sure. Absolutely. The rise wasn't too high on the mixing whiskeys. We'll get into some cocktails right now and see how they turn out. I pulled a couple of recipes from the Jack Daniels website. This first one is a take on the original Jack and Coke. It's called the Godfather No. 7. Use a little bit of Amarato in the mix. Let's see how it is. It's actually pretty solid. The Di Serrano here adds a little bit of that almond, kind of marzipan sweetness to it. Kind of plays well with the almond note that I was getting on the No. 7. A little bit of sweetness for sure. Maybe a little bit too sweet. I don't know. Jack and Coke, sweet drink as it is. You're adding a little Di Serrano to it. Brings up that sweetness. But this is a really nice cocktail. I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. All right. Next up, this is called the Gentleman and Ginger. So it's just simply a Gentleman Jack, ginger beer, or you could use ginger ale, a little lime wedge. Let's see how this is. Oh yeah. That's nice and refreshing. I'm a big fan of ginger beer. Really like that. Lime works perfectly with this. Great cocktail. I'm going to go 7.5 out of 10 on this one. Next up is the Tennessee Rye Old Fashioned. It uses a Jack Daniels rye, a couple dashes of bitter, some simple syrup, an orange wedge. I'm a big fan of the Old Fashioned cocktail. It is by far my favorite whiskey cocktail for sure. One very important thing that I like to do when I can is use a big chunk of ice in there. I like to use like the two inch by two inch square ice. Definitely controls the amount of water in the cocktail. Slowly, slowly dilutes as opposed to like multiple ice cubes. You can definitely control the amount of dilution in there. Let's see how this one is. That's all right. Definitely getting a little more of that rye spice in here than I was even when I'm drinking this straight. Probably that bitters has a little bit something to do with that. The orange does work really well with the notes in here. Although I'm, you know, I'm very, very specific about my Old Fashioneds. I think for me, for this one, I would probably be looking for a different rye or possibly a bourbon for it. Okay cocktail, but I'm a very strict marker when it comes to Old Fashioneds. I'm going to give this one a five out of 10. All right. Next up is the Jack Honey Smash. This one uses the Jack Daniels honey liqueur, mint, lemon juice, simple syrup, some crushed ice. I've had a couple of decent whiskey smashes before. Most of them bourbon. I've had a really nice scotch smash before. It used Belvini 12 double wood. That was really, really good. Let's see how this one goes. Really nice and sweet. The mint and that honey note work really, really well together. Love that. The lemon though, I'm not sure that lemon juice is really mixing well with this. The honey, the lemon kind of clash in my opinion. I think if I remade this, I would probably swap that lemon out for maybe something else. Okay cocktail, but that lemon's kind of hurting it. I'm going to give this one a five and a half out of 10. All right. This one's called the Cinnamon Smashed Apple. Uses the Tennessee Fire liqueur, lemon lime, sour mix, and some apple cider. Let's see how this one is. Never quite had a cocktail like this before. It's actually pretty decent. That cinnamon apple cider thing obviously go really, really well together. Sour mix. Kind of interesting that like citrus note that kind of accompanies that. It's actually a pretty refreshing drink considering the heaviness of that cinnamon and the apple cider. Really, really sweet though. That is really sweet. Definitely can only have one of these. Again, I like it. It is a very decent cocktail. I'm going to go six and a half out of 10 on this one. All right. There you have it. There are the scores. This is by far the biggest review I have ever done. Jack Daniels, what do you think? How's the brand stack up to you? How about the old number seven? Is it a staple in your bar? Is it something you kind of went to maybe earlier in your whiskey journey? Is it something you still kind of drink nowadays? Jack and Coke, let me know what you think. Single barrel, barrel proof. What a great whiskey. Like I said before, this one can compete with some of those bigger brand name bourbons that are out there. The barrel proof bourbons. They get a lot of notoriety. I think this one can stand with them. The rise, you know, wasn't too big on the rise. Let me know what you think. Maybe they'll make like a single barrel, barrel proof rye. That'd be pretty interesting. They did that. The mixers, you know, they were decent. Some decent cocktails. The little bit of Amarato in the Jack and Coke was a pretty nice touch. But the Gentleman Jack with the ginger beer. That was one of my favorite kind of refreshing cocktail. Like that one. So let me know what you think. If you want any Super Social Club merchandise, a glass, a coin, a shirt, hat, whatever, check out supersocialclub.com. Everything's available there. And I really appreciate you guys watching. Thanks so much for tuning in. Let me know what you think in the comments down below. Like, comment, subscribe. Lots of good stuff coming up on the channel as always. Thanks again. Have a good one, guys. Cheers.