Jack Daniel’s Heritage Barrel Tennessee Whiskey (2019)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A-

Jack Daniel’s has followed up on the success of last year’s very limited release, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Heritage Barrel, with a new installment for 2019. For 2018, Master Distiller Jeff Arnett ordered 200 specially toasted barrels, filled them up with Tennessee new make at a mere 100 proof (an particularly low entry proof, lower even than most other low entry proof whiskeys), and put them on the top floor of a choice rickhouse. After maturation, the whiskey was bottled at 100 proof.

The 2019 release follows this same pattern, but a year older. As the whiskey was made in the same way as the first release, one might expect only a few differences… but it’s important to keep in mind that this is a premium single barrel release, so some variance is to be expected not just from year to year, but within those few hundred barrels in the given year.

The Whiskey
My pour had a clear, middle amber look. The swish and coat left clusters of skinny, little tears and a beady crown.

The nose was lush with vanilla and banana, with a modest current of nuttiness and wood. A sip deepened and developed off that scent. The sweetness characteristic of Jack Daniel’s was rich with maple and vanilla, soaking the telltale banana so much that it is almost lost in the syrup, with this accented by a trace of oak spice. Gone are the nuts from the nose, and the whiskey is a supremely mellow sipper.

The finish flips the sweet and spicy sides of the whiskey, placing the spiciness front and center and reducing the sweetness to an accent. Yet despite that surprising twist, one that adds much to the sophistication of the whiskey, it remains quite mellow in nature.

I enjoyed the 2018 Heritage Barrel very much, but I wasn’t quite as in love with it as some commentators were. The 2019 installment, or at least the barrel I got to taste from, was a full step better.

The Price
Officially, this whiskey is going for $65 a bottle. If you can get it at that price, buy it, even if you aren’t normally a Jack Daniel’s drinker. You won’t regret it.