When I started drinking, I couldn’t help but be surprised and confused by Jack Daniel’s popularity. This was when my only exposure to them was through Old Number 7 and Gentleman Jack, two painfully plain products. I didn’t understand the appeal of those expressions then and I barely understand it now. Curiously, it’s only when we look at the distillery’s other, more enthusiast-geared expressions that things add up. This goes doubly so when considering Jack Daniel’s output from 2020 onwards. I still don’t think it explains their lucrative success, but it at least helps account for the celebration from less casual drinkers.

One of the bigger splashes Jack Daniel’s made was the introduction of their first age-stated product in over 100 years with 2021’s 10-Year. When it dropped, people swarmed stores, likely thinking it would be a one-time release. However, 2023 brought the announcement of a second 10-Year batch, yielding 18,000 bottles versus the 24,000 of batch 1. This seemingly sets the stage for annual releases of Jack Daniel’s 10-Year, which should be of consolation for those who missed out on its initial bottlings.

Although Jack Daniel’s isn’t usually known for rotating their barrels, the marketing for the 10-Year describes it as aging “in the Buzzard’s Roost of our barrelhouse” and relocating barrels to the lower floors during the aging process to facilitate the impact of Tennessee’s highly variable weather on the final product. So it sounds like the Jack Daniel’s team took a similar approach to Maker’s Mark by storing the barrels in a way that oak wouldn’t overwhelm the whiskey at this higher age. Let’s see how it pans out. Jack Daniel’s 10-Year is bottled at 97 proof, has an MSRP of roughly $70, and comes in a 700 milliliter bottle, just like their recent bonded releases. The back of the bottle says it uses “minimum filtration to sustain its unique flavor profile” and that sediment may gradually occur, suggesting it’s non-chill filtered.

Nose: Leads with crème brûlée and bananas foster while a musty dark brown sugar note builds, carrying the nose to more of a tobacco-meets-flan combination. Some building peanut dust, smoke, and floral hints in the background. After sipping I get barbecue sauce. Finds an uncanny balance between being oak-driven and brightly sweet.

Palate: Moderate viscosity with a gentle touch of heat. Butter pecan, dark brown sugar, sweet oak, and banana rum cake. Hints of dark fruit like plum creep into the profile with a touch of chocolate liquor as well. The buttery component is strong and prevalent, holding the experience together in a way that’s rich but not heavy.

Finish: Warming, lightly drying oak matched by a billowing tobacco personality. There’s a strong “char” presence while maintaining a sweet profile that finds a welcome balance. More of a lighter brown sugar lingers with a more tangible sense of vanilla.

Sometimes people respond to the simplest changes. Jack Daniel’s effectively operated without age statements on their bottles for several decades, which their whiskey reflected. To that end, I can’t say “oak-forward” typically springs to mind when I think of the Lynchburg distillery’s overarching profile. So to get a product from Jack Daniel’s that demonstrates this level of maturity is absolutely intriguing. That maturity isn’t just for the label’s sake, either; Jack Daniel’s 10-Year comes in swinging with sweet, developed oak in a way that similarly aged products rarely do. I partly attribute this to the musty dark brown sugar notes with hints of peanut dust and smoke, which nicely pair with a discrete, more developed version of Jack Daniel’s ubiquitous banana-heavy profile.

Jack Daniel’s 10-Year is absolutely a proper development of the distillery’s corn-dominant mash. If you’ve tried their lower proof single barrels or bonded expressions and wished they brought a strong oak presence, then the 10-Year should fit the bill. At least, as far as your palate’s concerned. Those who land on the off-put side of the fence with Jack Daniel’s are unlikely to enjoy this nearly as much, if at all. Although I think the whiskey strikes an effective balance despite the relatively high age, it comes close to pushing those char-driven notes too far for me. I view this similarly to a double oaked product; the flavors are rich and pleasant, but the pour is definitely more mood-dependent than something I’d turn to on any given day.