Review #408 - Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye
Following on the success of their Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee whisky, Jack Daniel's announced a special release of Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye back in 2020. This rye became immensely popular and sought-after, so a couple of years later, the distillery made it a regularly available release - no longer just a special edition.
This NAS SBBP Rye release is now becoming regularly available across a lot of the USA - we see it on the shelf most of the time when we visit our local store. As it's a single barrel product, flavors will of course vary a bit from bottle to bottle; the strength varies, too, though it generally seems to fall between the 120 and 140 proof marks.
Our specific bottle comes in at a solid 130.1 proof (65.05% ABV), the middle of that aforementioned range, and we get some nice details on the label strip on the neck: this barrel was kept in Coy Hill’s barrel house 1-09, and it was dumped and bottled in March of 2024.
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof Rye
USA - Rye
Price Paid: USD 70 (2024)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 70 (2024)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 65.05% ABV
Details: Barrel house 1-09 (Coy Hill), barrel no. 24-025754, bottled March 12, 2024
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 5 times over 4 months; bottles at 100%, 90% (blind tasting), 80% (blind tasting), 70%, and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Sweet and very rich - mushy banana bread, brown sugar, plenty of oak, maple syrup on pancakes. The oak takes on a wood smoke vibe, and then we get more baking scents like creme brulee and molasses. Fruits hang out in the background - raisin, orange, a tiny hint of cherry... at the end, a mild ferment-y note.
Palate: A medium-thick mouthfeel, pretty warm, and very oaky. Lots of tannins and wood char, barbecued wood, charcoal - overall, less sweet than the nose. In the background, there are flavors of banana, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cayenne spice; in addition to the oak, a nice spice kick.
Finish: Peppery and tannic, still quite oaky and drying, but there are nice sweet baking flavors like vanilla and maple syrup. Quite cozy and warming, and a soft leather note develops at the end; it's a medium-long finish.
Final Note: Well, we can't take anything away from this one in terms of punchiness and bold flavors - this is a beast. Very rich, quite hot, and lots of oaky spice and baking notes. The nose especially was full of fruit, especially banana, while the palate turns slightly more simple, a little overrun with oak and charcoal notes. That was the main thing that prevented this bottle from sneaking a bit further up the scoring chart.
Don't get us wrong - this is a very good rye. It's just that our single barrel variant teased so much on the nose, we just wish a bit more of the balancing sweet notes and complexity carried over to the palate and finish.
Value here is good - there aren't a lot of other barrel strength ryes that offer punchy flavor like this, which also come with a very reasonable price. This bottle is a "buy" for us.
Our Average Rating: 7.3 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.09
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
