Jack Daniels: Straight Rye (USA: Straight Rye: 45% ABV)
Visual: Very deep amber gold with medium speed thick streaks coming from the spirit.
Nose: Peppery. Rye crackers. Light smoke wisp. Water makes slightly floral.
Body: Smooth. Orange touch. Rye bread and margarine. Brown bread. Slight chocolate malt drink. Water makes even smoother. Slight coffee notes. Vanilla toffee. Jelly babies touch.
Finish: Slight alcohol numbing. Light menthol touch. Malt loaf. Rye bread. Dry vanilla toffee. Coffee cake.
Conclusion: This is actually pretty good. I’ve got to admit, I try not to be a whisky snob, especially about Jack Daniels which actually is a solid bourbon (ok, ok Tennessee whiskey), not a world shaker but it has a worse reputation than it deserves. I will admit that, despite that attempt, I wasn’t expecting a huge amount from their take on a rye.
Silly me. This isn’t as intense as a lot of straight ryes I have tried, leaning towards the more easygoing take which I guess they feel would appeal more to the usual Jack Daniels fan, but it does that take impressively well.
Neat it seems simple – the usual rye crackers and pepper that you would expect, but far smoother than the average rye. A touch of water is when this gets interesting though. With water there is more evident traditional Jack Daniels toffee notes and more importantly a subtle coffee to coffee cake touch that makes this feel like more of a luxorious treat.
It is very soothing, which is unusual for a rye, but tasty. It feels like a night cap of a rye and I can dig that.
Background: I have a mixed history with Jack Daniels, it was, to my recall, the first whiskey I ever tried, back in my teen years. I enjoyed it for many a year but as I moved off onto single malts and such I tended to avoid it for a while, but found a taste for it again with Gentleman Jack which was a nice drop, then back and forth over the years. I’m currently on the thought it isn’t a bad wee drop, but far from a favorite these days – though the Gentleman Jack still has charm. Anyway that was a long build up, so when I saw they had done a rye I have to admit I wasn’t in a rush to grab, but then I saw this mini in Independent Spirit, and I am trying to resist opening some new large bottles until I finish a few first – so this gave me a nice chance to try something new without breaking one of the big ones open. It does help that I have grown a taste for straight ryes, and they are not the most common thing to find in the UK. Music wise I wanted something chilled so went with Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee.
