Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series 12 Tennessee Whiskey Review

By Kenrick Thurston-Wilcox

Rating: B

With the rise of craft whiskey distillers offering consumers more varied options then ever before the producers over at Jack Daniel’s have taken notice. In recent years they have been producing one off experimental releases (originally known as Tennessee Taster’s Selection now changed to Distillery Series) to showcase the versatility of their distillery. They’ve even gone so far as to produce their own American Single Malt, as it stands poised to take its spot in the history books. The newest Distillery Series expression takes what the producer learned from their experiments with Oloroso sherry casks, first used in their American Single Malt, which are used to finish their ubiquitous Tennessee whiskey mash bill for an additional 3 years. Long time employee and whiskey taster Randall Fanning, now retired after working at the distillery for close to 50 years, personally selected the whiskey in this release, settling on a final 90 proof bottling.

The Whiskey
The liquid is a brown copper color with red tints. The nose is rich, dense and leathery, smelling of wet wood and a cherry sweetness, vanilla and caramel. Typical sherry notes surprisingly don’t appear in the nose but rather seem to add a deep richness to what is already in the liquid. The liquid feels oily and sooty with the leather, cherry and caramel notes carrying through from the nose. Sherry cask influence finally makes itself known with dark fruits now being present along with some lemon and citrus flavors.The finish has a satisfying smoky feeling with leather and tobacco notes, staying in your mouth for quite a while.

The Price
This release is $41.99 for a 375ml bottle but can only be found at the distillery’s White Rabbit Bottle shop and select Tennessee retailers.