(Photo: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Tennessee whiskey icon Jack Daniel's is preparing to release an expression aged exclusively in toasted barrels, according to a trademark filing approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau last Tuesday.
If the dark blue labels are to be believed, the whiskey — dubbed "Single Barrel Heritage Barrel" — will be aged a minimum of seven years in heavily toasted casks before bottling at 100 proof. A blurb on the back suggests that the whiskey will pack flavors of vanilla, marshmallow and toffee. Nothing is known about the mashbill or release date, though one of the images lists the bottling date as May 1, 2025. That could be a placeholder — or it could be real. If that date is to be believed, it'll likely roll out over the summer or fall.
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Few trends have ignited the American whiskey industry quite like toasted barrels over the past few years. Pioneered by Michter's in 2014, the technique sees barrels "toasted" for minutes, sometimes hours over a low-temperature heat said to imbue extra depths of oak and vanilla flavor. Toasting supplements but does not replace the charring process, a legal requirement for bourbon that sees barrels heated over a high-temperature flame for mere seconds. In short: toasting is low and slow, while charring is high and dry.
In addition to Michter's, popular brands including Penelope, Elijah Craig and St. Augustine have forayed into the increasingly trendy category.
This appears to be Jack Daniel's' first time foraying into a purely toast-aged whiskey. Up until this point, it has limited its involvement in the toasted trend to cask finishes. The brand's Distillery Series #008, #009 and #010 each recruited help from a different type of toasted wood ranging from pecan chips to oak. Our personal favorite was its Rye Finished in High Toast Maple Barrels, which currently sits at a Raided Score® of 89. We were captivated by that whiskey's dense, nostalgic flavors of peanut brittle, honey-roasted peanuts and caramel corn, though the overall rye influence was surprisingly subdued.
The upcoming Heritage Barrel release is something different altogether. Rather than spending a few days or months finishing in toasted barrels, the expression is matured exclusively in the casks for years. Jack Daniel's typically sticks with the same mashbill for its single barrel releases, so we'd expect the classic 80% corn, 12% malted barley and 8% rye.
The last time is repurposed its mashbill for a limited edition release — that being Coy Hill 2024 — the results were phenomenal. Hopefully, Single Barrel Heritage Barrel can exceed expectations to the same success.
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