Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey

Jack Daniel’s uses a mash bill of 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. I believe it’s uncommon for the enzyme catalyzer (barley) to have a higher percentage in the mash than the flavor grain (rye). The mash is fermented using a starter culture from the prior batch (called “sour mashing”) for 6 days and distilled in a copper column still and doubler. The resulting spirit is mellowed through 10 feet of compressed charcoal from sugar maples – this is the Lincoln County process necessary to call the product Tennessee Whiskey – and…

George Dickel Bottled In Bond Tennessee Whiskey (Fall 2008, 11 year)

Dickel’s bottled-in-bond release is 50% ABV (of course), distilled in one distilling season which is printed on the label, and displays an age statement as well. The whiskey is Tennessee whiskey, which means it’s essentially bourbon that’s been chill filtered through sugar maple charcoal. The website, although unclear, seems to indicate they all share the same mash bill as other whiskies from the distillery: 84% corn, 8% rye, 8% malted barley. For more…

Jack Daniel’s “Tennessee Tasters’ Selection” Barrel Proof Rye

This is a distillery-exclusive (plus a handful of Tennessee retailers) bottling of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee rye at barrel proof (in this case, a whopping 63.8% ABV). It’s bottled from barrels located on the highest floors of the Jack Daniel’s rickhouses, and since heat rises that means the barrels at the top experience the highest temperature fluctuations and thus age the fastest. The rye in this case is distilled from…

George Dickel Bottled In Bond Tennessee Whiskey (Fall 2005, 13 year)

This Bottled-in-Bond batch, from the Fall 2005 distilling season, was aged for 13 years and is bottled at the required 50% ABV. It is chill-filtered through sugar maple charcoal, like the rest of Dickel’s whiskies. … The Tennessee whiskies are all made at Dickel’s historic Cascade Hollow Distillery near Tullahoma, Tennessee, from a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley…

George Dickel Rye

Here, we have something different. This is not actually a bourbon (nor a Tennessee Whiskey), but rather a MGP-distilled (that would be in Indiana) 95% rye whiskey that has been subjected to the above charcoal chill-filtration process. I am now obliged to point out the bald-faced hypocrisy of a label that…