Recently here at MyBottleShop we attended a Jack Daniel’s event hosted by Assistant Master Distiller Chris Fletcher via video link from the Jack Daniel’s headquarters in the heartland of Tennessee. It was an eye opening event with the focus being on the final selection stage of a Single Barrel of Jack Daniel’s exclusively bottled for you, the customers at MyBottleShop.
You can find the wait list for that Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel 2017 Limited Release bottle here.
While the final flavour profile chosen by our staff remains a secret, we were given the opportunity to take the Jack Daniel’s journey – from start to finish, raw to refined. This included tasting the Jack Daniel’s product essentially in it’s rawest form, as it comes out of the still, before it is mellowed (see image of Jack Daniels Pre and Post Mellowing). This gave us insight into the beginnings of the Jack Daniel’s we all love. On the nose, the corn was quite overwhelming, this aspect of the distillate is what is removed by the mellowing process.
Before we get too immersed in the details of the mellowing processes, let me impart some facts…
Chris Fletcher, Assistant Master Distiller (and Frank Bobo’s Grandson) presented to us from Lynchburg Tennessee. Chris walked us through the history of the Jack Daniel’s brand and the part that mellowing plays in building the flavour profiles that are present in the most famous whisky in the world, the Old No. 7 Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whisky. Mellowing, also known as the ‘Lincoln County Process’ to the inner circle of the Jack Daniel’s community, is what has separated Jack Daniel’s from the rest. This is arguably the one of the most indispensable parts of the famous Jack Daniel’s process, perhaps behind the barrel ageing. The charcoal used is made of hard maple planks, expertly charcoaled on site at the Jack Daniel’s distillery. The charcoal mellowing produces a spirit that has less of a ‘burn’ and levels out most of the corn aromas that are present in the unmellowed spirit – producing a mellowed whisky that is consistent, something very important for Jack Daniel’s that has an international reputation to uphold and exceed for their fans.
Every single drop of new make Jack Daniel’s distillate has been filtered through 10ft of maple wood charcoal. This core spirit is the foundation of all the products that Jack Daniel’s produces and creates a standard flavour profile that can be matured in a range of ways to create the range of Jack Daniel’s Whiskies that we all know and love. Continued innovation of the Jack Daniel’s range is something that is important to Chris and the legacy that is the Jack Daniel’s brand. We’ve seen in recent years some great examples of this innovation, from a Straight Rye expression, the Barrel Strength Single Barrels with different proof’s and also the trendy Tennessee Fire and Tennessee Honey releases.
Jack Daniels Series is Nice and also enjoyed Event
I am waiting for next Event.
Thank you so much.