Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Select 18-2686
47% ABV - Tennessee, USA
Nose: Florals, fruits (banana), and fresh wood all blended together. Some hints of minerality or chalkboard,... and "wet mop water" – strange, but it really triggers a memory. Altogether the nose is not very pronounced, but not too subtle.
Taste: Very sweet with caramels, spices, and fruit on top of banana bread. The banana bread character is very strong with this one.
Finish: Charred wood, fruits, oak and vanilla, with some spices and burnt orange in the background. Finish is short to medium.
In Spring 2018, I visited the Jack Daniel Distillery while on a whirlwind road trip through Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The distillery tour we did there is the best one I’ve been on to date! It’s impressive, for the scale and output they have, how much is done on site - like making the charcoal from sugar maple, and the bottling line.
Being in Tennessee, it was very easy to find Jack Daniel’s whiskies on the bar sheet, including Single Barrel Selects. This one place in particular, the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, had two casks: 17-7763 and 17-7765 (each bottled November 14, 2017). We tried them side-by-side and I was blown away by the difference in flavours! While one had more rye, spices, and smoked notes, the other was sweeter with florals, brown sugar, and citrus. So, after that experience, I was destined to pick up one of these bottlings for myself.
Unfortunately, being single casks and not having the chance to try before you buy, picking a bottle can amount to little more than chance. This bottle, 18-2686, was supposed to be released alongside 18-3074. The tasting notes for the latter sounded more interesting to me, and I thought that would be the one the get. But, for whatever reason, only one made it to the shelves - at least in my part of town, and I wasn’t about to go on a hunt… The defining characteristic about this bottle is the banana bread. Not quite the dram I was looking for, but no matter, still a fine whisky that I’ll be happy to share!
Details: Selected for BC Liquor Stores. This cask was laid down on March 22, 2013 and aged in Warehouse 2-18 on the 4th Floor, Rick #L-16. Bottles were filled October 16, 2018.
Tasted 20 October 2019. (Posted 27 October 2019).
