Cinnamon | Butterscotch hard candy | Charred oak | Maple sugar candy | Vanilla syrup | Peeled green apple

Butterscotch candy | Rye spice | Vanilla | Caramel covered apple | Charred oak | Black peppercorn

Rye spice | Burnt brown butter | Spiced caramel | Baked pie crust | Oak

Jack Daniel’s latest Distillery Series Selection is an experiment in time. Distillery Series Selection #15 focuses on Jack Daniel’s sweet mash versus their traditional sour mash. According to the company, “at the beginning of each distilling season, the Jack Daniel Distillery uses a sweet mash process during the cooking of grains. This sweet mash will kickstart production before establishing a setback to support our sour mash process for the remainder of the distilling season.” Selection #15 utilizes the standard Jack Daniel’s mashbill, and the company states that this sweet mash whiskey “was aged on the top floors of Track 2 barrelhouses at the Jack Daniel Distillery for almost nine years before being batched and bottled.”

Having spent nearly 9 years in oak on the top floors of the rickhouse, you’d expect the aging conditions to impact the whiskey, and it does, with an instantly noticeable mahogany color when pouring into a glass. The whiskey opens with a sweet aroma, with a focus on various candy-like notes. The midpoint of the sip rides in on a velvety note of sweet butterscotch hard candy before changing over to a more oaky and spiced focus affair. These flavors ride out into the finish, adding burnt brown butter and baked pie crust before fading away. However, the spice feels a bit off balance here and holds back the final product. Fans of the brand looking for a bold spice-forward sip that is interlaced with sweet influence will be right at home, but for the price, others will more likely find one of the brand’s Single Barrel Select whiskeys to be of better value.