A lot can happen in ten years. Scientific discoveries that propel us forward. Seismic cultural moments that seize the collective imagination. For Tennessee Whiskey distillery Jack Daniel’s, a decade doesn’t just represent the passage of time. With the UK launch of Jack Daniel’s 10-Year-Old, it’s making history in its own right.
This new, deliciously complex and intricately rich expression is the first age-stated whiskey from the iconic Tennessee distillery in over a century. While it’s made from the same historic mash bill recipe – 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye – the release has been taken in a surprising new direction. Nurtured by Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and his team, it’s been aged for a minimum of ten long years. Each barrel has been painstakingly monitored and moved around the barrelhouse for optimum ageing and flavour creation.
First released in 2021 in the United States, Jack Daniel’s 10 Years Old is now on Batch 4. With this batch’s launch, Jack Daniel’s 10-Year-Old will finally become an annual release, a celebration of the brand’s past as well as the modern whiskey-making expertise at the distillery. In a first globally, 2,500 bottles will be made available in the United Kingdom – a scarce release due to the inherent challenges of long-ageing Tennessee Whiskey.
It was long over a decade ago that Fletcher started thinking about what could happen if he and the team experimented with longer-aged whiskeys. He wanted to craft a product that would honour both Jack himself – the man who started it all – and the processes that he championed way back in the 1800s. He set about understanding these historical practices, evolving them in line with his own understanding of cutting-edge, modern whiskey-making.
“One of the great things that we have here in Jack Daniels is this wonderful history of whiskey making,” Fletcher explains. “You can go back to all these different time points in our history, there’s all these interesting things.” Something that stood out to him from the archives was the surprising array of age-stated whiskeys that Jack Daniel’s made Pre-Prohibition. 10, 12, even 21-year-old expressions were all in existence in the early 1900s.
“It’s about recreating our past and telling our story of our history of making whiskey here in Tennessee,” he continues. “It started pretty small, just holding back some barrels and doing something that we thought would make the best 10-year-old whiskey.” The eventual goal, he notes, is to recreate that original line-up.
But it’s not just a case of simply waiting longer. So much care and craft has gone into long-ageing these whiskeys. The practice of relocating the barrels as they matured was fundamental to crafting such a mature spirit. It’s all down to the intensity of Tennessee summers coupled with the height of the totally unheated Jack Daniel’s barrel houses.
From May through to October, the long hot summer sees heat rise through the warehouse floors, with each building standing up to nine storeys tall. The powerful temperatures at the top drive rapid maturation – which is exactly what you want for a single barrel programme where whiskey is typically released at around six years. But if you want to age your whiskeys longer, it can all get a bit too much. Especially when you consider that, by law, every drop of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is matured in charred new-oak barrels.
Evaporation runs high – up to as much as 40 per cent – with the high temperatures on the upper floors, concentrating the flavours to an extreme extent. What can you do? Move the carefully selected barrels down to the bottom of the warehouse where it’s much, much cooler.
“We like to drive differences into the whiskey based on warehouse location,” he details. “Think of it like cooking. Those upper floors are like searing, intense heat, and the lower floor is more simmering. By slowing it down, you certainly still get oxidation, but you’re not going to get that intense extraction and evaporation.”
The resulting complexity is astonishing. From the same mash bill, the flavours that Fletcher and the team have managed to amplify through extended ageing show just how pioneering this approach is. Dry fig and raisin come to the fore on the nose, ahead of oak, butterscotch and soft fruit on the palate, backed by a beautifully subtle wisp of smoke. The finish lingers on with sweet spice and tobacco notes. This is an elevated, assured whiskey, best enjoyed sipped neat.
The bottling proof is also new for Jack Daniel’s. The 10-year-old expression has been bottled at 48.5% ABV (97 proof) — a strength that is so much more than just a number on the label. It also tells part of the flavour story, too.
“I wish I had this great explanation and cute romantic story,” he smiles. “But 97 was absolutely right.” He tasted and tried the whiskey at multiple different proofs, from much higher down to 90. “We didn’t consider going below because it wouldn't have been right for this whiskey.”
But ultimately it came down to flavour. “As a general rule, especially with American whiskeys, I know in my gut that as you go up into these double-digit age statements, carrying a higher ABV helps you balance some of these sweet notes from the spirit itself. It helps it stand up against the new oak barrels that we have to use every single time.”
The Jack Daniel’s 10-Year-Old limited-run initial release largely sold out within the first day, but limited availability can still be found at Hard to Find. Jack Daniel’s have also included the expression in a limited-edition cocktail available at The Connaught Bar. Comprised of Jack Daniels 10-Year-Old, Three Cents Cherry Soda, Silver Needle tea, ginger wine, and mint leaf, the Silver Seventeen cocktail was inspired by the Cobbler—a renowned cocktail with origins in the 18th century. The drink is in ode to Jack Daniel’s master distiller Chris Fletcher and his desire to create a serve that honours the brand’s whisky from the 1800s. The Silver Seventeen is available at The Connaught Bar for £45, available now for the next six months.
“This is an exciting time with all the innovation that we’ve got going on at Lynchburg,” Fletcher sums up. “It’s just a great time to be making whiskey — and to be able to recreate these products from our past.”
How does it feel for him to be the one bringing these expressions back to life? He pauses – it seems to be a mix of both personal and professional pride.
“To be able to say that we haven’t done this whiskey since Jack Daniel was alive, and that we’ve never had it leave the US ever in the history of our company, that’s just so cool.” He references his grandfather too — after all, he was Jack Daniel's master distiller from 1966 until he retired in 1988 and Fletcher grew up just down the road in Lynchburg.
“The first thing that goes through your head is, would Jack approve? Are we doing this in the way that he would approve of? But also think about my grandfather. What would he think about the flavour profile, and would he agree? I lost my granddad in 2020, but I do think a lot about how those two gentlemen would consider this whiskey right now.”
It’s not just about reviving an archive piece – for Fletcher, Jack Daniel’s 10-Year-Old is about sharing a piece of his history with the world, too. “Yeah, it’s really special.”
