Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series Finished In High Toasted Maple Barrel Rye Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

This one is a solid example of why the proliferation of one-off xperiments and single shot limited editions in today’s whiskey trade demand some real skill in naming. “Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series Finished In High Toasted Maple Barrel Rye Whiskey” — what a mouthful! Paring that down by just a couple of words would be a big help. People doing what I do appreciate concise titles!

But all kidding aside, this is the 8th installment of Lynchburg’s series of experimental releases; I reviewed it’s sister release and the 9th batch last month. Keeping in mind that Jack Daniel’s did the 10th batch last month, I figured I’d best put my back into catching up with these things while they were still current.

This is a four year old JD rye, finished in high toast, no char maple-wood barrels. For those of you not familiar with Jack Daniel’s Rye, they followed in a vein similar to their Tennessee Whiskey in basing it on a high rye (in this case, 70% rye) mash bill and using their own spin on the Lincoln County Process. This experiment was bottled at 101 proof.

The Whiskey
This light amber pour took the spices in its scent to clove and cinnamon. That spicy layer say atop some lighter notes of brown sugar and maple syrup, plus just a hint of musty wood. The palate’s spice box jinked towards cinnamon, ginger and allspice, combined with sweet, damp tobacco leaf and a light dose of non-descript woodiness. The finish saw the spicy current that ran throughout fade down to that continuing sliver of wood.

I didn’t favor this one as much as some of my colleagues did, but writing that isn’t to knock it. It’s a mighty fine whiskey, and it continues to be worth checking in with what Lynchburg does with their rye.

The Price
Officially, this fetches $42 for a 375 ml bottle, and is available only at the distillery and select Tennessee retailers.