Jack Daniel’s 14 Year Old Barrel Proof Tennessee Whiskey Review

Don't like ads?

No ads

Brown-Forman, the owner of Jack Daniel’s, had always shunned age statements in their whiskies. For decades, their products were made with a taste profile in mind instead of touting how old it was. This was just fine for many casual drinkers and enthusiasts. Products like Old Forester Signature, Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey were affordable and had a steady stream of customers ready to purchase them. So why change what wasn’t broken?

But times change. Whiskey companies have been keen to pick up on the fact that enthusiasts have been more demanding of their whiskies. They want to see higher proofs and age statements. That’s put companies like Brown-Forman, Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam at a disadvantage. At the very least, they were leaving money on the table while their competitors were offering highly spec’d bottles at premium prices.

Jack Daniel’s ups the ante with proof and age

Up until 2018, Jack Daniel’s had been fairly coy (pun intended) about putting age statements on their products. In that year, we first started to see evidence of age statements when they introduced their “Special Release” line. The neck label tells us the barrel fill date. Calculating the date is as simple as knowing the release year and doing some simple math. It wasn’t until 2022 that Jack showed they had larger ambitions with this picture:

This picture has mostly come true with the exception that they did not include the 14-year-old release. That leads me to think that we’re going to see successive releases in 2-year age increments (so a 16-year-old release would be next in my opinion). But the most important takeaway is that Jack has its sights set on creating a permanent line extension of age stated whiskey. This is a proven concept among other lineups like Pappy Van Winkle, Knob Creek and, uhh, Eagle Rare? Enthusiasts want these age statements and that’s what they’re going to get.

Jack Daniel’s at 14 years old

At the time of writing, this is the oldest bottle of Jack ever available to the public. There were only 24,000 bottles filled for this (annual) release which makes it more rare than George T. Stagg (which had reached 40,000 bottles back before Buffalo Trace stopped publishing that kind of info). As such, the secondary market has gone wild with valuations approaching $600 or more in the spring of 2025.

Jack 14 has been bottled at barrel proof which ended up being 126.3 proof. You don’t have to believe me on this next part, but since Jack goes into the barrel at 125 proof and since the proof gain was so minimal, I’m assuming that means the barrels for this release came from the middle floors of the barrel house. No word on which of the three campus’ that the barrels were plucked from, but I’m assuming it was the main campus.

So how does it taste? Thanks to my good friend Jon G., I’m ready to find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Very fragrant and rich. The nose delivers many sweet and oaky notes that sort of bind to every other scent I find. I’m surprised to find a cherry (strudel) scent on the nose because that’s not typically a fruit note I find in Jack products (sometimes their rye, though). More than the cherries, I’m finding a scent I’d refer to just as “red fruit jam” due to my inability to describe every type of fruit. Fresh baked goods accompanied by brown baking spices follow. Cinnamon, phyllo dough, cocoa powder, brown sugar… it’s like smelling a fresh batch of pinwheels. One thing that stands out is that I’m not really picking up on any banana notes. Is this really Jack if it doesn’t have banana?

Palate: The mouthfeel is delightfully thick and tongue-coating. The heat playfully pokes your tongue, but never feels intrusive. The oak I find on the palate is much more tannic (with a hint of bitterness) than I’ve ever found in a Jack product. That’s not a bad thing in my opinion! Dark chocolate (likely tied to the tannic oak) combines with flan, pipe tobacco and walnut.

Surprisingly, I think that the rye shows itself a bit more than I typically have found with other Jack Tennessee Whiskey products. I get some ground clove, cinnamon stick and even a bit of star anise. Maybe those notes are from the barrel influence? Fruit notes center around cherry (both the black and canned varieties) and a bit of apricot. I tend to find Jack to be a sweeter sip, but this one kind of lacks in the sweet notes. That’s not to say it’s a bitter mess, but aside from some toasted brown sugar (with a bit of molasses) notes, there’s not much maple, honey or caramel. Still, it’s much more complex and layered than almost any other Jack product to date and I’m loving it.

Finish: A gentle, warming heat all the way down. This finish leaves lingering flavors of chocolate chip-nut bread, cinnamon, seasoned oak, and dry tobacco leaf. Milder notes like vanilla bean, apricot, black cherry and a hint of licorice also hang around. I know I’ve said this a lot, but I cannot stop focusing on how oak-forward each sip is. It’s just so surprising for Jack Daniel’s.

Score: 8.9/10

My first taste of Jack 14 happened to be at a bottle share where we were opening and sharing lots of very good bottles like Al Young 50th Anniversary, Wild Turkey Kentucky Legend (Donut), William Larue Weller, Four Roses SmBLE. But it was the Jack 14 that had all of us talking. Nobody there was really anti-Jack, but we were all very surprised with how much of a complete package this bottle was. A few nights later I got to experience it all over again and it was the still just as good as I remembered.

Jack 14 is already shaping up to be this year’s Russell’s 15 – A release that kind of comes out of left field from a respected distiller and impresses almost everyone that has a pour. I think it does this by bucking the trend of what Jack is supposed to taste like. With the exception of a few clues, I’d have no idea who distilled this if I was tasting it blind. But I would still call it a great whiskey.

Final Thoughts

This is one of the most flavorful, layered and delicious Jack Daniel’s products I’ve ever tasted. It takes a little bit from every great release before it and improves upon it. Therefore, it’s no small thing that I’m calling this the best Jack Daniel’s product to date. If you had only one whiskey to taste in 2025, this is the one.

I don’t need a crystal ball to know that we’re going to keep hearing about this bottle until the end of the year when it inevitably makes a large majority of “Best Of 2025” lists. The only question now is – can you find one for yourself?