Jack Daniel’s Gentleman Jack

Brian’s Jack Daniel’s Gentleman Jack Review:

03April2020

JACK DANIEL’S GENTLEMAN JACK TENNESSEE WHISKY REVIEW:

This review was prompted by a request from one of our followers and is long overdue. Jack Daniels is arguably the world’s most well known and widely consumed whiskeys. Gentleman Jack is their next tier offering. I found this whiskey to be simple, with not much complexity to entertain the senses. Its nose has some interesting elements, and it is easy to drink, but it finishes quite short with little to remember.

JACK DANIEL’S GENTLEMAN JACK TENNESSEE WHISKY VITAL STATS:
Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack

– Category: Tennessee Whiskey
– Region: Lynchburg, TN, USA
– Distillery: Jack Daniel Distillery
– Company: Brown-Forman
– Mash Bill: 88% corn, 8% rye, 12% malted barley
– Barrel Char: #3
– Double Mellowed*
– Barrel entry proof: unpublished
– Age: nas
– ABV: 40% (80 Proof)
– Price: $26.95 USD in Idaho (sale price)

*Jack Daniels products are filtered through 10 feet of compacted sugar maple charcoal as it comes out of the still, before the liquid is put into barrels. Known as the Lincoln County process, the charcoal filtering has a mellowing effect on the alcohol. After aging, juice destined to become Gentleman Jack is given a second charcoal filtration before bottling. Additional filtering purifies and decreases oakiness, further mellowing and sweetening the whiskey.

Learn more at https://www.jackdaniels.com/

ENJOYMENT METHOD:

For the evaluation, I shared the juice neat from Glencairn glasses with my daughter and fellow Whiskey for the Ages reviewer Hannah.

Check out her review for this bourbon here!

NOSE:

When first brought to the nose, I get aromas of faint fingernail polish and a sweet potpourri of light red berry nectar, possibly maraschino cherries and hints of banana. Spices of powdered ginger and white pepper are also faint and gave a certain yeastiness. I sense an overwhelming sweetness of light vanilla custard, circus peanuts and sweet hard candy. Yet this is is a fresh and simple whiskey.

PALATE:

The first sip gives my mouth and throat a surprising but highly subdued burn as the juice gives way to a warm perfume of light fruit potpourri and an herbal aftertaste. I had to check the ABV! The maraschino cherry and banana fruits sensed on the nose now come through on the palate and compliment spices of cinnamon and cloves. The sweetness sensed on the nose is also lessened yet the vanilla custard mixes with Kraft caramels and simple syrup. There are also hints of bitter walnut, light oak, and the smokey sweetness of toasted wood.

Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack

Balance, Body, Feel and Look:
Gentleman Jack is a simple balance of aromas and flavors with not much going on. The nose is sweeter than the palate and the juice is gentle, mellow and smooth. In the Glencairn, a curtain of thin liquid falls into the lightly colored russet pool, leaving a long lasting crown of clinging droplets.

FINISH:

This Tennessee whiskey finishes short and offers a little light fruit warmth. It is quite simple and leaves an herbal and clovey but dry aftertaste. Any woodiness has been mellowed away and is quite light and I find it hard to define as either oaky or mapley.

MY RATING: 80/100

Will I seek out this whiskey in the future? No
Click to read Brian’s scoring process.

Click 80/100 to access other whiskies with this score.

WHISKEY TRAITS AND FLAVOR NOTES AND PROFILE GRAPH:
Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack
Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack

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A Slow Pour – Time to Relax

A Slow Pour – Time to Relax

Hello, sippers! I hope you are all keeping well in these challenging times, you and your loved ones are healthy, and your financial situations are secure.

I decided I would hop on today with the thought there may be a fair number of you confined to your homes and may be lacking things to do… Let’s share a slow pour – it’s time to relax…

To those of you who know my dad and me, you’ll know that we both enjoy our bourbon, and we strive to post at least three reviews a week (one from him, two from yours truly) amidst casual sipping.

Surprisingly, for us, there has been a lack of those reviews, and I do want to assure you that those goals are not abandoned and more reviews are coming. Not only have there been a lack of reviews written, but we haven’t been partaking in casual pours and sips so much either, especially since my younger sister was dismissed from university early, due to the virus. Naturally, there has been a fair amount of chaos, confusion, and stress regarding her unanticipated return, change in status to permanent stay, and what the rest of her semester is going to look like.

However, adjustments have been slowly made and as she goes to resume her classes and studies online, the family has been falling into a routine of sorts. My dad still is working, and the rest of the family is at home. We still get groceries. We watch YouTube and have the Pandora app on our Blu-Ray.

There’s also been a lot of game playing! Whether it’s Scrabble or Go Fish or Rummy 500, we’ve found ways to entertain ourselves. Last night, our bird even flew from her cage to join the whole family for a game of UNO. (That’s her on the table below.)

A Slow Pour - Time to Relax

It is during such games when my dad and I feel the most comfortable pouring a dram and sitting back to enjoy the moment. The atmosphere is light; we’re laughing; we’re having FUN.

I am by no means a trained medical doctor or psychologist, but should you reach for a pour in these times, please make it a happy experience. Turn off the news for a moment, get off social media, set down the phone, and put on an old family favorite movie. For us, it was Vin Diesel’s The Pacifier even though my sister and I are both in our twenties, and yes, we still laughed a bunch. Test your skills at an old video game! We’ve been playing a lot of golf and Frisbee golf on our ancient Wii from 2007 that miraculously still works. And lots of Mario Kart too.

Yes, I realize that this post isn’t intensely whiskey related, rather whiskey influenced. Whether it is a pandemic or not, whiskey should always, in my book, be a relaxing and responsible “pause” button where you can enjoy the moment and the company. And it seems to me that many of us are in great need of a pause. So dig out what I call an “old friend bottle” (Eagle Rare, Dry Fly 101, and Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch are always reliable for me) or maybe allow yourself to reach for that unicorn you’ve been saving. Enjoy a contented and peaceful pause – not a panicked and stressed one.

Keep the pours slow, and make sure you have plenty of laughter to go along with them, whether it’s with the immediate family you’re isolated with, or at your pet’s antics, or at one of the many comedians on Netflix. I think you’ll find plenty of things to laugh about, and who knows? You may even make some great memories to look back on once this is all over!

Leave us a reply to tell us what you’ve been up to and what lucky whiskey you’ve been taking your pauses with! Any good games or movies you’ve been playing and watching to go along with your pour? Let us know!

A Slow Pour – Time to Relax

Written by Hannah Dawson

WhiskeyfortheAges.com editor

Featured Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

Others in the Slow Pour Series:
A Slow Pour – The Empty Bottle
A Slow Pour – Time Capsules

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Whiskey Reviews

Revisit those First Whiskeys

Revisit those First Whiskeys – They’ll Help Keep you Grounded.

Years ago when I traveled for business, one such trip landed me in Louisville, KY.  The schedule of activities for the three day conference was quite tight and the days were full of information and instruction.   To wind down each evening, the event promoters had a catered Bourbon Trail set up in one of the hotel ballrooms for us to enjoy as we networked.

Up ’til then my whiskey experience had been limited to university days (nothing of substance from which to draw) so I got to learn a bit from the hosts. Samples of basic Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, and a couple of others were offered.  On the plane home, I remember thinking I could get attached to bourbon.  Maker’s and Four Roses had really impressed me. But, as the world continued to turn, other pursuits had more gravity.

As time went by, a couple of friends and I began planning a multi-day back-packing and fly fishing adventure deep into Idaho’s “Frank Church River of No Return” wilderness area.  There would be plenty of water along the way, but no means of refrigeration and carrying a sufficient supply of the typical adult beverage wouldn’t be practical.  I remembered the business trip and decided bourbon would be something I could enjoy each evening as we wound down around the fire.

Frank Church Wilderness map found on MyTopo.com

Now I’d enjoyed a pour (or two) of Buffalo Trace on other outings, but I felt some research was in order, as I really didn’t know much about bourbon (and I wanted bring something which would enhance the adventure).  So with a desire to learn, I headed to the nearby liquor store to get my education.  There I met Adam who soon became my expert (see “How to Pick A Whiskey“).  I had much to learn.  Fortunately I had several months to devote to the task.

With Adam’s help, I began with middle tier bourbons, forsaking those on the bottom shelves.  Soon I had a small collection of common offerings: Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig Small Batch, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey 101, and as I was a newbie, all in 375 ml bottles. (Cost was a factor and I was still reluctant to spend money on something I might not like.)  Each night while preparing dinner on the grill, I would assess two offerings, working through the bunch, finding “my profile” much like an optometrist fits for glasses (“A or B”, “2 or 3”).

From my original four, I found Maker’s good and Elijah Craig better.  Then Adam convinced me to spend a bit more, and Eagle Rare and Four Roses Small Batch came home for trials.  Along the way, my experiment expanded and others were tried. Some failed to impress and others shined.  My palate was developing.  Adam asked if I was ready for some heat, recommending Colonel Taylor Small Batch (my first Bottled-in-Bond bourbon), Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, and Old Forester 1920.  They each have become regulars in my bunker.

My bourbon journey was well underway and soon I had three solid options from which to choose for the wilderness adventure: Eagle Rare, Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, and Old Forester 1920 – Yes, all have very different profiles, yet I found all most enjoyable in their own unique way.  And I knew the amber liquid would be simple to transfer into easy to carry 8 oz. stainless steel flasks I now had in my collection.

Revisit those First Whiskeys

Flask photo taken by Brian Dawson

But this article was written to revisit those first whiskeys and stay grounded, not a history lesson nobody but me cares about.  Fast forward to present day … … …

Hannah, my fellow WhiskeyfortheAges.com editor and reviewer, is diligently working on her whiskey review list.  As she works through my originals, I figured there was an opportunity to circle back and revisit those first whiskeys which had fallen to newfound options.  In addition, some of my early notes were really lacking – largely due to inexperience … I just didn’t know what I was tasting back then … but I had discovered the basics of what I liked.

Amazingly, as I sipped the various bourbons Hannah was reviewing, I noticed my nose and palate picked up far more aromas and flavors than I had jotted down in those original notes.  All are better than I remembered and Elijah Craig was much better than my notes had indicated.  Because my senses have matured, certain aromas and flavors are now easier to identify.  I’ve come to enjoy this bourbon adventure even more and it has made sipping this wonderful nectar even more delectable.

Interestingly enough, my profile has remained fairly consistent with those first few months of tasting and testing:  I liked the earthy, sweet and oaky bourbons back then; I still prefer big, bold, high proof bourbons which are earthy, have traces of fruits and nuts, and are sweet and full of oak now.  Today, some of those originals are daily sippers in my bunker and they’re close at hand for times when I feel like visiting with an old friend: Elijah Craig Small Batch, Eagle Rare and Four Roses Small Batch, Colonel Taylor Small Batch, Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, and Old Forester 1920.

So here’s my recommendation … Consider taking a hint from my these pages – Revisit those first whiskeys.  See how they compare to what you are drinking now.  You might find a new old favorite.

Please click the ‘Leave a Reply’ button below to share your first whiskeys and how they have influenced your whiskey journey. Cheers!

Written by Brian Dawson

WhiskeyfortheAges.com editor

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Featured image taken from MyTopo.com