Tasted #41 & #42: Jack Daniel's "White Rabbit Saloon" and Old No. 7 (#101drams)

Thanks to a recent Master of Malt order (yes they're FINALLY shipping to Australia again), I've managed to get my hands on a number of harder to find #101drams whiskies. First up - Jack Daniel's "White Rabbit Saloon". Turns out I've amassed a bit of a Jack Daniel's collection over the years (including a rare-ish Green Label, bottled from the bottom row of barrels in the JD barrelhouses), so I was keen to add one to the list (if anyone knows where I can sample the Sinatra Select, please let me know!)

The White Rabbit Saloon is a limited release JD released in 2012 to commemorate the White Rabbit Saloon in Lynchburg Tennessee, over 120 years ago. It was actually sold at Dan Murphy's for a while, but seems to be gone now. From what I can tell, it's similar to regular Old No.7, but bottled at 43% ABV (vs 40%). So we could expect it to have a similar flavour profile then, right? I've tasted it back to back with a fresh bottle of Old No.7, so let's see...

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Nose
White Rabbit Saloon: Rich, big, strong honey and butter notes. Slight hint of banana, but it's subtle. Actually a pretty amazing nose!
Old No. 7: Same notes as the White Rabbit Saloon, but just "less". There's only a 3% ABV difference so you wouldn't think the difference would be too noticeable, but it really is. It's like a fair amount of water has been added to tone everything down. 

Palate
White Rabbit Saloon: Lighter than the nose suggests. Fruitier too. The banana notes are still there (and still subtle), with some coffee and honey notes towards the end. There's a bit of a rye character too - which is surprising given the low percentage of rye in the JD mash bill.
Old No. 7: Again, light. More banana notes and more spice than the WRS (again, interesting given the mash bill on these is, as far as I know, the same).

Finish
White Rabbit Saloon: Shorter than I expected. Vanilla dominates. Pleasant, just over very quickly.
Old No. 7: Pretty much as per the White Rabbit Saloon, with a bit less on the vanilla front and a bit more final spice notes towards the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 
White Rabbit Saloon: 90/100. 
Old No. 7: 88/100. That 3% ABV really does seem to make a difference.

Cheers,

 - Martin.