Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Jackpot: Jack Daniel’s Launches New Tennessee Tasters’ Selection

Sam Slaughter
By

Planning a trip to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery (or to Tennessee in general) any time soon? Hoping to get a bottle of something exclusive that your friends will be über-jealous of? Now is the time, as Jack Daniel’s has just released its new Tennessee Tasters’ Selection whiskeys, a line of experimental, limited-release whiskeys that were chosen by Jack Daniel’s master tasters to provide consumers with unique looks at what all goes into making Jack Daniel’s the internationally-recognized brand that it is.

“This collection exemplifies our whiskey-making in a new way in that each whiskey will undergo its own process for unique flavors chosen by our esteemed Master Tasters,” Jack Daniel’s master distiller Jeff Arnett says in a statement. “We plan on releasing several of these new products each year as we continue to tap the expertise of the master tasters who make our Tennessee whiskey every day.”

Jack Daniel’s master distiller Jeff Arnett. Image used with permission by copyright holder

You won’t be able to get the new line just anywhere, though. Limited to around 24,000 bottles for each release, the Tennessee Tasters’ Selection will be sold at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, as well as select stores throughout the state.

Recommended Videos

Seems like a good time to head to the Volunteer State, if you ask us, especially if you’re going to continue on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail after visiting Jack Daniel’s.

Related

The reasoning behind tapping the tasting panel comes out of the original Jack Daniel’s motto: “Every day we make it, we’ll make it the best we can.” Because of that, Arnett says, “We’re taking the ‘we’ in that statement to the next level. Jack Daniel’s Master Tasters are an integral part of the quality whiskey we produce every day, and now we’re enabling them to share their expertise with the world by sharing some of their personal favorite, previously unreleased expressions.”

Hickory Smoked (left) and High Angels Share Barrels (right). Image used with permission by copyright holder

The line will be sold exclusively at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery and select stores throughout Tennessee. Each release is expected to be approximately 24,000 bottles followed with another limited release every few months. The bottles are reflective of the sample bottles used by Arnett and his team and will include a customized label, distillery name embossment on the front, and “Taster Sampler Bottle” mark on the back of the glass structure.

To start on the right foot, Jack Daniel’s released three expressions. They are:

  • High Angel’s Share Barrels: A 107-proof whiskey barreled in January 2013, which was an unusually low yield. It was selected by assistant master distiller and master taster Chris Fletcher and will be available in early October.
  • Smoked Hickory Finish: A 100-proof, fully-matured whiskey finished with charred hickory staves. Selected by master taster Marsha Hale, it will be available in late October.
  • Reunion Barrel: A 90-proof whiskey finished in wine barrels. These barrels were first used to age Jack Daniel’s, then used for a Tennessee-produced wine, and returned to the Jack Daniel Distillery for finishing. Selected by master distiller and master taster Jeff Arnett, it will be available in early 2019.

All three whiskeys (as well as subsequent releases, for now) will be released in 375 ml bottles and will retail for $40.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
William Grant and Sons Launches New Single Malt Whisky Brand
Aerstone Sea Cask Land Cask

William Grant and Sons is a family-owned business best known for its two well-regarded and popular Speyside whiskey distilleries, The Balvenie and Glenfiddich. Glenfiddich is one of the best-selling single malt brands in the world, although the company prefers to label it "most awarded." The Balvenie is its smaller sister distillery located right next door that produces a lineup of whiskies that are finished in a variety of cask types. But WGS has a few smaller brands in its portfolio as well, like Ailsa Bay which is distilled at the company's sprawling Girvan distillery about 55 miles south of Glasgow. Hendrick's Gin is also distilled here, along with a large amount of grain whisky used in various WGS blends. And now a new brand called Aerstone, consisting of two 10-year-old single malt expressions -- Land Cask and Sea Cask -- has been introduced.

These are two easy-sipping whiskies meant more for those who are new to the whisky category than for seasoned drinkers. This is not to say that they are bad whiskies, but they are subtle and soft with flavors and alcohol (40%) that are not meant to challenge your palate. Sea Cask is described as "smooth and easy" on the packaging, and this Speyside-style whisky is indeed light, slightly sweet, and a little spicy, a satisfying if unremarkable introduction to the single malt category. Sea Cask would work well in a highball or other scotch whisky cocktail. Land Cask, on the other hand, is described as "rich and smoky," and it has a noticeable and assertive peatiness, although nothing like what you might expect from an Islay whisky like Ardbeg or Laphroaig.

Read more
Highland Park Releases 2 New Limited-Release Bottles
Highland Park Twisted Tattoo

Highland Park is best known for two things: being the northernmost distillery in Scotland (it beats the Scapa distillery by a bit under a mile), and its Viking-themed lineup of single malt Scotch whiskies. Names like Valkyrie, Einar, Ragnvald, and Magnus abound throughout the range, imbuing the distillery with an almost mythical character. In other words, it's the kind of whisky you could picture Frodo drinking late into the night with Tyrion Lannister.

Nordic imagery aside, the whisky is often delightful, relying heavily -- but not exclusively -- on sherry cask maturation, along with a smattering of other barrel types. This gives the usually lightly-peated whisky all of its color (no additives are used), as well as dried spice and fruit flavors that complement a palate full of vanilla and caramel. Of course, all of that is subject to the particular expression you're tasting, and there are many, including two new limited edition bottles that were released over the past few months.

Read more
Rabbit Hole Rebrands and Launches New Whiskey
rabbit hole rebrand lineup

Louisville's new Rabbit Hole distillery has been making some major moves over the past few months. In June, it was announced that French beverage company Pernod Ricard had acquired a majority stake in the distillery, adding it to a whiskey portfolio that already includes popular brands like Jameson and The Glenlivet. Now Rabbit Hole has unveiled a complete rebranding of its core lineup that gives each whiskey a new name, and a brand-new expression has been added as well.

According to the brand, Rabbit Hole founder/distiller Kaveh Zamanian had all of this in the works well before the Pernod Ricard acquisition. "Knowing that the Rabbit Hole portfolio would continue to grow, we decided to give each of our spirits a distinctive name that evokes the ethos of Rabbit Hole," said chief marketing officer Michael Motamedi in a prepared statement. The names certainly are distinctive, although perhaps a bit harder to remember from a branding perspective as they don't exactly roll off of your tongue. The four-grain straight bourbon will now be called Cavehill after a Louisville cemetery where distillers have been buried; the straight rye will be called Boxergrail, "inspired by the greatest boxer and Louisvillian of all-time"; and the bourbon finished in sherry casks will be called Dareringer as a tribute to Zamanian's wife.

Read more