The Bar That Jack Built

The month of September has always been a month of celebration for Jack Daniel. His exact birth day is not known to many, so celebration of his birthday takes place throughout the entire month of September.

Last month, to celebrate 'Jacktember,' a call to Jack's Facebook friends was made. The call was for all who share a passion and love for Jack Daniel's to donate a host of "resources", whether that be materials, time or expertise, to build what would be the first 'crowd-sourced' bar. Fittingly, the bar was named 'The Bar That Jack Built'.

Utilising the old Locomotive Workshop at the Australian Technology Park as a base - artists, musicians, electricians and carpenters alike worked together to build 'The Bar That Jack Built' 

The resulting bar; beautiful and impeccable, the hand made bar shared a rustic, industrial and unique feel and showed excellent level of craftsmanship. 'The Bar That Jack Built' was only open for one night though such curation may inspire others to build other similar 'crowd-sourced' bars in the near future. 

As the saying on the night went - "Here’s to raising a Jack to Jack."

More photos of The Bar That Jack Built at our Facebook page: The Bar That Jack Built Album Page

- Hendy

Tasted #61: Jack Daniels Holiday Select (2013)

A few weeks ago we wrote about the Jack Daniels Holiday Select, which Brown-Forman kindly sent Steph and I for Christmas. You can read more about it here, but in short it's a limited run of 49% ABV JD from barrels selected especially to create their distillery Christmas Tree. As far as I'm aware, this is the third annual release.

I've always been a fan of Jack Daniels Silver Select (which is basically Single Barrel at 50% ABV, made for the Global Travel Retail market), so this expression at 49% was off to a good start before I even cracked it...

Jack Daniels Holiday Select 2013 (49% ABV, NAS, Tennessee USA, $130AUD)
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Colour: Rich golden sunset.

Nose: Spice, vanilla, a hint of oatmeal. A second nosing gives rich berry notes - raspberries, blueberries. Definitely has the standard JD notes too.

Palate: Yes this is definitely a JD! But more spice, much more oatmeal, more charred oak characteristics. Smooth and filling in the mouth - this is what a JD should be! Banana notes (which I've always gotten from JD) are evident too.

Finish: Long! Very long. Spicy cumin notes with a hint of berry fruits, but mostly banana, at the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. An excellent limited JD expression with an interesting back story, a stunning bottle and quality / unique packaging. If you're a JD fan I'd suggest grabbing a bottle, although Dan Murphys seem to be sold out already.

Cheers,
 - Martin.

PS: Despite the photo above, as with all whiskies this was tasted in a Glencairn glass for consistency with my other tastings. 

PR #16: Jack Daniels Christmas online hub and Christmas Barrel Tree

Who doesn't love a good Christmas promotion? Especially one involving booze, and especially one that allows Aussies to enter, with some seriously good prizes up for grabs.

For Christmas this year, Jack Daniels have set up an online hub at www.jackdaniels.com/christmas which, apart from being a beautifully designed site (up for a number of design awards), lets you win a trip to the distillery (with 7 friends!) or one of 5 bottles of "Holiday Select" every day until Christmas.

Holiday Select, you ask?

For the past few years, JD have built a Christmas tree at the distillery in Tennessee, made of JD barrels (140 barrels stacked 8m high). The whiskey from those barrels makes its way into a limited annual release known as "Holiday Select". You can find it at Dan Murphy's for $129.99AUD, or try a dram at a number of good Australian bars listed here.

We'll put our own tasting notes up shortly, but here's what JD have to say about the whiskey:

"Limited edition Holiday Select releases an aroma of rich apple and blackberry tones countered with sweet, heavy oak notes. Apple and oak follow through in the taste, while stronger undercurrents of cinnamon and nutmeg linger warmly long after your sip has finished. "

Personally Steph and I thought this was one of the most impressive bottles of Jack we've seen - similar to the Single Barrel / Silver Select, but with even more impressive packaging and labelling. It would definitely make an impressive Christmas present for any whisk(e)y fan.

The online hub also gives viewers a tour of Jack's office, tips on how to cook / BBQ with Jack, share a Christmas eCard and as mentioned, win a trip to Lynchburg or one of 5 bottles of Holiday Select daily.

Cheers,
 - Martin.

Tasted #24: Jack Daniels Unaged Tennessee Rye

Unaged, or "white dog" spirits are becoming increasingly popular these days. I even saw Buffalo Trace White Dog at my tiny, local suburban bottle shop the other day. Is it the increasing interest in spirits and how they're made, the need to differentiate product lines, or simply an easy way for a distillery to gain extra revenue without the hassle of the aging process? Whatever it is, we think it's fantastic. Now if only I could get my hands on some Islay new make...

At Eau de Vie recently I noticed a bottle of JD Unaged Tennessee Rye on the shelf. I hadn't seen this in Australia before (its release in January 2013 was mostly a US-centric one), so jumped at the chance to try it.

Jack Daniels Unaged Tennessee Rye Whisky (40%, unaged, Tennessee USA)

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Nose: Bananas and bubblegum (Steph says "metho").

Palate: Smooth! That was a surprise. No real dominant flavours - still hints of banana, and clearly extremely young (Steph says "metho").

Finish: Short as expected. Reminds me of a young, but not completely unaged rye. Still a bit of complexity evident to the end. Obviously needs (a lot) of time, but it wasn't horrible. (Steph still says "metho").

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 79/100. Let's be honest - whisky gets aged for a reason, and whilst this wasn't something I'd drink every day, it was an interesting way to see what JD rye is like before it ever sees a barrel. And it wasn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination - I'd happily drink it again (just not if a nicely aged whisky was on offer).

Before finishing off the night, Steph and I enjoyed a dram from our (sadly now very low!) bottle of JD kept for us at Eau de Vie, as part of Brown Forman's fantastic "Jack Daniels Embassy" program.

Cheers,
 - Martin.

Infusions: Banana Jack Daniels

Step into a number of cocktail bars around the world these days and you'll be greeted with a list of spirits you probably never knew existed. Bacon Maker's Mark? Popcorn Goslings? Earl Gray Hendricks? Raspberry Tanqueray? Banana Jack Daniels? Welcome to the fun and experimental world of infusions.

Infusions are, in a nutshell, the mixing of a flavour with a spirit. They can be done in a number of ways depending on the ingredient - either by simply soaking the ingredient in the spirit for a number of hours/days, or by fat washing, whereby the fat from the ingredient (say lamb, duck or bacon) is infused with the spirit. Once the infusing is done, usually all that's left to do is strain, bottle and enjoy!

About a year ago I was at Gardel's Bar in Sydney (part of the excellent Porteño restaurant) and noticed they had a "Banana Old Fashioned" on the menu, made with Banana-infused Jack Daniels. Intrigued by the idea and blown away by the taste (and having a mostly-full bottle of JD at home), I was keen to give it a go. The bartender told me all I needed to do was soak some bananas in JD for a few days, strain it out, and I was good to go.

I should have asked which type of bananas...

After 5 days, I ended up with some incredibly alcoholic bananas, and about 30mL of banana-infused JD. The bananas had soaked up pretty much all the JD, leaving me with practically nothing. Squeezing, mashing, straining the bananas did nothing but make a horrible mess either.  I enjoyed the nip and resigned myself to the fact that the bananas had stolen my JD.

Fast forward about 6 months, I was chatting to a bartender at Newtown's great little Corridor Bar, who told me the trick was to use dried organic bananas. Not banana chips, but dried whole bananas. I rang a few Sydney organic shops and tracked them down at Taste Organic in Crows Nest, NSW ("Organic Mountain" brand if anyone is interested).

I cut them in half (each is about as big as an index finger), popped them in a container, poured JD over them (only 250mL at first, in case this attempt also failed) and let it sit for 5 days. I decided to use JD 1907 White Label, because it's about $10 cheaper than JD (good for if you're not too confident), and I figured the slightly lesser ABV (37%) might help the banana taste shine through.

Success! After a taste test confirmed this was very much banana JD, I gave it a quick strain (first with a colander, then with and funnel and cheesecloth), then poured in back into the bottle. Repeating the process with the remaining 500mL, I had an (almost) full bottle about 4 days later (the bananas still soaked up about 20-25% of the JD).

So - what to do with it now? I'd love to hear suggestions anyone has. Regular maple syrup with a few dashes of bitters seems to work pretty well, but I'm always open to ideas!

Cheers,
 - Martin.