Jack Daniel's Original (No.7)
A Winter Warmer
0 179
Review by @jerryclyde
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
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- Overall79
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- Brand: Jack Daniel's
- Type: American
- ABV: 40%
In a review I wrote about Jim Beam White Label, Connosr member, Victor, added a very interesting and apt comment regarding the importance of maintaining a broad mindedness when involving oneself with whiskey: "A continuously fresh take, 'beginner mind' is what is required to live in the whisky moment and retain an unbiased, honest perception." Amen!
Having come across a mostly empty bottle of Old no. 7 (left over from my son's wedding reception, I think) I felt like applying Victor's "beginner mind" to what remained in this bottle. I know that Old no. 7 is not considered a sipping whiskey and is used mostly for mixing drinks, but what the hell. Besides, the temperature just hit -21.8F in northern Vermont and I could use a bit of warming up.
Nose: Pretty one dimensional and uninspiring. Corn, vanilla and charcoal the leading aromas.
Palate: Delivery is oily and sweet with corn syrup holding things together. Some drying mid-palate as oak makes an appearance. Nice spice buzz late.
Finish: Short with oak tannins and spice (mint).
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@jerryclyde, thanks for your review and your attribution.
I think that for many whisky-lovers batch variation is a very uncomfortable reality. Many people want to 1)try a whisk(e)y once or twice, 2)decide on its merits, 3)feel that they have the case decided once and for all, and then 4)move on to the next whisky to decide upon. Put a notch on their belt as "case closed". But whisk(e)y isn't really like that. If you are honest and you get a lot of experience of it, including often trying the same whisky from multiple different batches, you find that whiskies often vary a great deal from batch to batch. What do you do when you have a whisk(e)y which is great one time then crappy the next? Or crappy one time, then great the next? I think that telling the truth about the whole sum of your experiences is the only answer.
I've rarely had much good to say about any Jack Daniels product. But I have had the odd batch of this and that JD here and there which tasted very good indeed. I've liked about 2 out of 12 batches of Old No. 7 I've had, one of which was at least 7 years ago, and the other very recently. I've liked about 1 or 2 samples out of 8 of the Single Barrel I've had. I've never been able to get enthusiastic about Gentleman Jack.
But you know what, it is always good to keep up to date, because EVERY batch is different, sometimes just a little, and sometimes radically different. Continuing to re-taste whiskies which you already know keeps you living in the present, that is, in the present whiskey world.
If somebody gave me a bottle of the Jack Daniels Old No. 7 I tasted at someone's house over Christmas, I would be very pleased, because I liked that batch a lot...however, based on cumulative experience, I would NEVER go out and buy a bottle of JD unless I had tasted from a bottle from the batch offered for sale first.