Jack Daniel's - Tennessee Fire (1L)
Price: $39.99
| Producer | Jack Daniel's |
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| Country | United States |
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| Region | Tennessee |
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| Style | Flavored Whiskey |
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| Sku | 30234 |
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| Size | 1L |
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The best selling American whiskey is Jack Daniel's. Although 'Jacks' meets the "regulatory criteria for classification as a straight bourbon", they label themselves as a Tennessee Whiskey. And, it is distilled in Jack Daniel's home county of Moore, which is ironically a dry county. Thus, none of the 11 million cases (or more than 130 million bottles) of Jacks sold each year are purchased in the county where it has been produced (legally) since 1875. This week we introduce Jack Daniel's Fire, and the fine citizens of Moore will not permitted to purchase this either. However, the story of Jacks is interesting (especially for the peeople of Moore). There really was a Jack Daniel's. Actually, there was a Jasper Newton Daniel, also known as Jack, who was born in 1850 (maybe - because he was mother died in 1847 - making the 1850 birth date very unlikely), and "was one of thirteen children" fathered by Calaway Daniel. Jack left home, and was "taken in by a local preacher and moonshine distiller". Jack eventually took control of the (now legal) distillery, and in 1884 purchased the land (and 'hollow') on which the still stood. By 1897 he was bottling in unique square bottles "intending to convey a sense of fairness and integrity". Jack Daniel's was affected by Prohibition (which began in Tennessee in 1910), and did not renew operations until 1938 (Prohibition remained in effect in Tennessee longer than most of the nation). They ceased operations during World War II when the U.S. government banned "the manufacture of whiskey" because alcohol was needed for munitions. They resumed distilling in 1947, and was purchased by spirits giant Brown-Forman in 1956. Jacks is produced from corn (at least 51%), rye, and malted barley, and is distilled in copper stills. Uniquely, the spirit is then filtered through stacks of sugar maple charcoal (known as The Lincoln County Process), to "remove impurities and the taste of corn". The whiskey is then aged in new oak "which gives the drink its color and most of its flavor". As of 2013, Tennessee know requires any whiskey that claims to be 'Tennessee Whiskey' to follow the same formula.
Jack Daniel's Description
Labeled as a 'cinnamon liqueur blended with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey', Tennessee Fire is first and foremost a cinnamon liqueur. The nose on Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire is sweet candy red hots, atomic fireballs, and Hot Tamales - pure candy in a glass. Underneath the overwhelming candied cinnamon is vanilla and sugar. It takes a herculean effort for the nose to get through all that to any semblance of the whiskey below, which only reads like a faint oak note. It's lower than a whisper and most people will never be able to get to it. The entry for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire is sweet and spicy. The candied cinnamon from the nose is right there on the palate. As with the nose, there's just not much whiskey flavor to be found in the opening. Things get spicier in the midpalate like it would be sucking on an atomic fireball candy. The midpalate is also very sweet, emphasizing just how much sugar and sweeteners have been added to the mix. It's at the end of the midpalate that we get any sense that there's whiskey in this liqueur, and here it reads as spicy heat more than any other flavor. It's like getting a text message from a friend in a sports arena - you know they're there somewhere, but you'll be damned if you're able to spot them. The finish is long and very sweet with the candied cinnamon gently fading on the palate. drinkspirits.com
