Jack Daniel's Bonded Series

Three Unique Bottled-in-Bond Whiskeys from the World’s Largest Whiskey Brand

by Brian Donnelly

May 27, 2024

Overview

 Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, or Old No. 7, is undoubtedly the beating heart of the brand and the American Whiskey category, domestic and aboard. The brand has a ladder of different products and labels to allow fans of the brand to trade up, such as with Gentleman Jack or experience the super-premium offerings of the Tennessee Whiskey category with the Jack Daniel's Single Barrel line. With the increasing popularity of premium American whiskey, especially in the Bourbon category, Jack Daniel's has continued to evolve and elevate its family of brands. The Jack Daniel's Bonded series was released in 2022 as a permanent addition to the brand. Created and produced under the supervision of Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and Assistant Distiller Lexie Philips, the series raises the brand's credibility with craft whiskey drinkers and potentially recruits new customers. 

The Jack Daniel's Bonded series, which included Bonded, Bonded Rye, and Triple Mash, was created to showcase the level of craftsmanship at the distillery and to offer the perfect range of products for mixing classic cocktails. Each of these products meets the criteria for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, which stipulates that the whiskey must be:

• From a single distillery

• From one distilling season (January - June or July to December)

• Bottled at 100 proof

• Aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least 4 years

The price for the Jack Bonded series falls between Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel series. Jack Bonded and Jack Bonded Rye are line-priced and have a suggested retail price of $33.99, about $8 more than Old No. 7 and around $3 more than Gentleman Jack. Jack Triple Mash has a suggested retail price of around $36.99. At the time of writing, the Bonded series is available in 700 ml and 1L sizes. 700 ml is the standard size in Europe, and more suppliers will be switching their 750 ml bottles to 700 ml soon, so they do not have to make two different sizes. 

Production

All Jack Daniel's products worldwide are distilled at the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, about an hour and a half south of Nashville by car. The distillery uses three different mash bills: the signature Tennessee Whiskey mash bill of 80 % corn, 8 % rye, and 12% malted barley, and a rye mash bill of 70 % rye, 18 % corn, and 12 % malted barley. They recently released a Jack Daniel's Single Malt Whiskey, distilled from 100 % malted barley. At the time of writing, the Jack Single Malt is only available in duty-free travel retail, but I am sure that will change. A brand's recipe is their mash bill plus their yeast strain. The distillery uses a proprietary yeast strain, which can officially be traced back to 1938, and is maintained by a full-time microbiologist. The fermentation process lasts between 4 and 6 days and uses 0-30 % sour mash. If you're unfamiliar with sour mashing, sometimes referred to as backset, it is a technique used to increase the fermenting liquid's acidity by adding the acidic residue that comes out of the base of the beer still after distillation. All mash bills are double-distilled to 140 proof (70 % ABV), and then the new make spirit, also called white dog, is gravity-fed through ten feet of sugar maple charcoal. Officially called The Lincoln County Process, this step of charcoal mellowing legally separates Tennessee Whiskey from Bourbon. Next, water is added to the whiskey until it reaches a barrel-entry proof of 125 (62.5 % ABV). All water for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey comes from the Cave Spring Hollow, which is an on-site natural lime-stone filtered water source.

All Jack Daniel's is aged on-site on the extensive distillery property in new American oak barrels with a proprietary toast and char level. These barrels are made at the Alabama Cooperage in Trinity, Alabama, formerly known as the Jack Daniel's Cooperage. Previously, parent company Brown-Forman operated the cooperage to make custom barrels just for the Jack Daniel's brand, but they sold the facility to Independent Stave Company in 2024. The cooperage will continue to produce barrels for the Jack Daniel Distillery as part of a strategic relationship between the companies. 

Conclusion

The Bottled-in-Bond label was the original consumer protection law, and it gave drinkers a sign of quality at a time when there was no transparency and a lot of deception. The growth in popularity for Bourbon and American Whiskey shows no sign of slowing down, which means that prices will continue to rise and more players will enter the game. Consumers are inundated with endless options at every price point. It can take a lot of work to cut through all the marketing. Whiskey drinkers are again looking for things like Bottled-in-Bond certifications to reassure them of a base level of quality and indicate they can still find a whiskey that offers excellent value for their money. 

Smaller or start-up brands always use the term craft, but just because you're small doesn't mean your product is good. All the Jack Daniel's whiskey in the world is still distilled in the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, and the parent company Brown-Forman does control the entire production process from grain to glass. Even though Jack Daniel's is the world's best-selling whiskey brand, this checks all the boxes for craft to me. The Jack Bonded series gives fans of the brand, Tennessee Whiskey, or even Bourbon drinkers access to excellent craft whiskey at a relatively affordable price. 

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Jack Daniel's Bonded, Tennessee Whiskey

Jack Daniel's Bonded Rye, Tennessee Whiskey

Jack Daniel's Triple Mash, Blended Straight Whiskey

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