Jack Daniel’s releases limited barrel-proof rye

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Jack Daniel’s is bringing a new limited-release rye to Lynchburg, with five barrel-proof small batches set to hit the White Rabbit Bottle Shop this month in extremely short supply.

The distillery announced Tuesday, April 21, the debut of Jack Daniel’s Special Release Small Batch Rye, a Tennessee Rye Whiskey drawn from 129 barrels aged across three barrelhouse areas.

The release will be sold in 375 mL bottles and will come in proof points ranging from 142.7 to 146.1. Jack Daniel’s said the barrels were entered between February 2016 and August 2017 and matured for an average of 10 years.

Two of the five batches came from Coy Hill, one of the distillery’s better-known barrelhouse sites. The other three came from Boiler Hill and Fire Brigade Fields, two locations the company said also produced barrels with especially bold flavor and high proof.

Master Distiller Chris Fletcher said the release grew out of the distillery’s effort to identify rye barrels that stood out on their own, even when they did not yield enough whiskey for larger bottlings such as Bonded Rye or Single Barrel Rye.

“I believe our Tennessee Rye Whiskey recipe is among the most exciting innovations to come out of the Jack Daniel Distillery in the past two decades,” Fletcher said. “In recent years, we began to identify barrels at some of our hidden gem barrelhouses that were simply too low-yielding for other bottlings like Bonded Rye and Single Barrel Rye, but had the potential to produce high character whiskey. This small batch release truly showcases how place and time can create intense, bold flavor that is unmistakably Jack.”

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Rye uses a mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley. Like the distillery’s other whiskeys, it is charcoal mellowed before aging in new oak barrels.

The company said the whiskey generally opens with black pepper and burnt oak on the nose, followed by spice and caramel, then finishes with notes of light cinnamon, leather, and butterscotch.

The bottles will sell for $64.99 and will be available only at the White Rabbit Bottle Shop in Lynchburg, beginning this month, while supplies last.

That gives Lynchburg one more distillery-only release likely to draw the kind of whiskey fans who know limited Jack bottles do not tend to sit around long.