While there’s debate about Jack Daniel’s designation as bourbon, there’s no denying amongst the bourbon community that Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof tends to be fantastic. Similar to Wild Turkey Rare Breed, this offering appeals to both high proof hunters and those looking for an amped up flavor experience compared to their normal day to day bottle. Unlike Rare Breed, which comes in at 116.8 proof, Jack Daniel’s Barrel Proof comes in between 125 and a whopping 140 proof. With all that proof, can you even taste the whiskey?
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof
- Rick #: L-20
- Barrel #: 21-07548
- Bottled Date: 8-23-21
- Proof: 132.4 (66.2%)
- Secondary Acronym: JDSBBP / JDSiBBP
Sight: A rich mahogany.
Smell: Spicy caramel and toasted oak start things off, while a bit of heat always seems to flirt around the edges. Brown sugar and maple roll around. Hits of cedar, cherries, banana, and caramelized stone fruits join in. Baking spices and yeasty notes pile in.
Sip: Unsurprisingly, it’s warm, but not burning. The evaporative qualities come quickly, but they give off beautiful notes of cigar, walnut wood, maple, cherries, and spice. So much spice. There’s a pile of cloves and dark chocolate powder. Toasted nuts and creamy pastry get involved. The flavors are deep, complicated, heavily skewed into desserts, wood, and spice. Make no mistake, the heat is always around the edges.
Savor: The ending leaves a prickly finish that slowly dissipates into a mix of spice, dried cherries, and hardwood. The finish lingers with a good amount of tannin.
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof is spicy, chocolate, and complicated. While it is hot, the flavor profile is exceedingly complex and layered. More importantly, the flavors are discernable through the heat, and allow it to be sipped (if slowly). While this isn’t a starter bottle, it’s an amazing choice if you’re a fan of barrel proofers.
In Cocktails
In a Manhattan it’s unsurprisingly massive. The woody notes come through with lots of walnut, but also dark chocolate and almond. Spice joins in and barrels through with lots of caramel, maple, toffee nuts, and nougat. There’s amazing notes of dried banana, preserved cherry, and intense tobacco / cigar. There’s a spice blend and dark tea going on as well. The flavor profile is incredibly bombastic. The heaviness of the Manhattan makes it feel rich. Overall, this is a delicious Manhattan.
In Review – Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof is simply fantastic at $65. For the price point it delivers incredibly massive flavors neat, and then explodes with more in cocktails. Interestingly, this is not the first bottle of JDSBBP that I’ve had and felt this way about. While visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers last year, I had an opportunity to enjoy a different bottle, which was equally exquisite, with more maple, banana bread, banana’s foster, caramelized walnut notes. This is to say that you can expect typical single barrel variation, but that the quality remains high.
While this isn’t a bottle to start your bar with, it is an amazing choice as an expansion bottle for a relatively available barrel proof offering. Absolutely give it a try if you get a chance.