Time Travelling Whiskey Experience
This post was originally published on My City Life, you can find this here.
An evening of whiskey education and experience is always something special, especially when celebrating Jack Daniel's 150th Birthday of their Lynchburg Distillery in Tennessee. As part of this milestone, Jack Daniel’s has organised worldwide events throughout the year focusing on sharing the authentic stories of America’s oldest registered distillery with friends of Jack, both old and new. Hosted by Chris Fletcher, Jack Daniel’s very own assistant master distiller, at the iconic Regatta Hotel the first part of the evening was a masterclass showcasing four offerings from the distillery as well as the pure unaged white dog spirit. Chris is a second generation distiller at Jack Daniel’s with his grandfather, Frank “Frog” Bobo, being the master distiller from 1966 to 1988.
Tennessee Whiskey differs from other bourbons in that it is charcoal filtered through fired maple wood, and that has to be produced in Tennessee. The impact of this method was made apparent by tasting two individual white dog, non-barrel aged, spirits. The first was a buttery, grass and corn powered non-charcoal filtered spirit as it comes out of the still. Juxtapositioned next to this was the same clear spirit that had been passed through the 8ft column of maple charcoal which transformed it into a floral nose and sweet fruit experience with an almost evaporative clean finish.
With it being the lightest in the range we started our tasting of the barrel aged offerings with the Gentleman Jack. The reason for its mellow fruit and vanilla palate is the second pass through 3ft of maple charcoal after it’s barrel maturation. This process is estimated to pull about 5% of the overall colour and flavour out while refining the profile in general. To test this we jumped across the tasting table to the legendary No.7 which is exactly the same as the Gentleman minus the second maple charcoal pass. Renowned as one of the smoothest and well balanced American whiskeys it offers up its familiar vanilla, caramel and toasted oak. Comparing these two very similar yet remarkably individual spirits highlights the process of charcoal filtration and the difference it can make.
The third dram on the tasting plate is a new entrant to the Asian Pacific market, Jack Daniel’s No.27. Similar to the Gentleman in that is treated to a second pass through charcoal the No.27 also spends a second maturate period in maple barrels after this so give a delicious golden hue and sweet maple flavour. The final showcase as part of the tasting is the Single Barrel expression, all picked from selected barrels from the top floor of the warehouse where temperature variation is much higher resulting in a faster-ageing whiskey. The barrels are usually between 5-8 years old when picked and bottled which for an American style is quite a long maturation. The flavour is rich, spicy and smooth while being powerful and driven home by a high Abv. and a long caramel finish from the American oak.
As we finished the tasting we were greeted by an actor and invited along on an adventure through themed rooms, the first of which talked about prohibition era America where we were taught how to make a great Old Fashioned according to Jack. Next was a visit into Sinatra’s dressing room, as he was a renowned as Jack Daniel’s biggest fan, always travelling with eight cases on tour and buried with a bottle of Jack. Here we mingled with the singer and cracked jokes while trying the new Sinatra Series release, which has deep grooves cut through the charring inside the barrel allowing the whiskey to interact with the wood and charcoal giving it a fantastic oaky finish. The final room was rock and rolled themed with us being greeted as the musicians new roadies. Showcasing the history of Jack and it’s infamy within the rock and roll world with some lucky members of the group taking home bottles after naming our new ‘band’ it was a brilliant way to finish the evening.
Jack Daniels are continuing to have Barrel Hunts all around the globe as part of their 150 year celebrations. Check Jack Daniel's Australia's Facebook page for upcoming events.