Jack Daniel's Heritage Barrel Single Barrel is Back—For Good

When Chris Fletcher, master distiller at Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, released the first Heritage Barrel single barrel Tennessee whiskey in 2018, he knew it was a big move for the 159 year old brand. “To do a really limited single barrel offering back then—it just wasn’t something we had done very often, and the treatment of the barrel created this unique flavor profile that we were very, very happy with,” he says.

That barrel treatment he’s referring to has been used for every Heritage Barrel release. It involves heavily toasting and lightly charring the barrels, mimicking the way they would have been prepared in the 19^th century. In the years since the release of the first Heritage Barrel (which took the No.-3 spot on our Top 20 list of 2018) came out, there have been subsequent limited iterations, including Twice Barreled Heritage Barrel Rye. Now, in a twist that may please existing fans of the harder-to-find release, the distillery is making Heritage Barrel a permanent part of the Jack Daniel’s lineup.

The whiskey starts the same as Old No. 7; it’s made from a mashbill of 80% corn, 8% rye, and 12% malted barley, and put through the Lincoln County process, which at Jack means 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal filtration. The barrel entry point for Heritage Barrel is quite low, at 100 proof, a move that coaxes out even more sweetness. “The lower entry proof is intentional—the goal here is to bring out all sorts of confectionery notes,” says Fletcher. “They come ripping out on the nose and then follow up on the palate. Dropping that entry proof all the way down really lets us bring out the best of that heavy toasting process.” Sugary character does indeed abound; the nose is rife with gingerbread, sugar cookies, strawberry Creamsicle, and brown sugar, while the palate is buoyed by flavors of bananas Foster, caramel syrup, and graham cracker.

After aging for a minimum of 7 years (some will come in at 7 years old, others 8, and the oldest at 9) in some of Jack Daniel’s highest-elevation warehouses, the whiskey is bottled at 100 proof, with the barrel number, barrel entry date, and bottling date all labeled on the neck. Priced at $70, Heritage Barrel is now an everyday expression for Jack Daniel Distillery. While it won’t have the availability of Old No. 7, or even the distillery’s standard Single Barrel Select, it’ll still be on shelves nationwide, and Fletcher hopes that there will eventually be tens of thousands of cases of Heritage Barrel produced regularly, saving it from allocation and allowing it to potentially grow globally as well.

Moving Heritage Barrel to the core Jack Daniel’s lineup marks a tangible shift in the distillery’s focus. “I want Jack Daniel’s to have the leading single barrel lineup in American whiskey,” says Fletcher, acknowledging that it’s a “big statement” to make. “We have Single Barrel Select, barrel proof single barrels, a private barrel program, and other special release single barrels, so adding this Heritage Barrel as a permanent offering further solidifies that single barrel has become its own family within the Jack Daniel family of brands.”