Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select

Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select

Cost: $200 via drizly.com

Age: NAS

Proof: 90

Mash Bill: 80% corn, 12% malted barley, 8% rye

This bottle belongs to my soon-to-be brother-in-law who received it as a gift last year because he’s a big Jack Daniels fan. He tried this quite a few years back at the distillery and really loved it. After getting this bottle as a birthday gift, he let me try a little sip in March 2023 and it drank very hot! I mentioned to him that it might be worth letting it open up a little and trying again in a few months. Well, nearly a year went by and I was visiting them this past weekend and he offered to open the bottle to try it again, and it was MUCH better! I find it a bit surprising that this was necessary or even yielded significantly different experiences for a 90 proof bourbo…err, whiskey, but it did.

Reviewed neat in a rocks glass.

Appearance: A chestnut, sherry brown with thick, fat legs.

Nose: Vanilla, charred oak, and a layer of astringentness.

Palate: Heavy cherry, vanilla cola. There’s a decadent caramel note in the background. There’s a definite presence of charred oak, and with a hearty chew, I can pick up on some caramelized banana. This has a very velvety mouthfeel.

Finish: There’s a very faint hug high in the throat that doesn’t get very deep into the chest at all. Dominant notes of tannic oak, barrel char, and a mild sweetness linger.

Rating: 6.8/10

Overall and Behind the Bottle: This is one of the most expensive bottles of Jack Daniels! When I let that sink in for a minute, and then compare what I just had with my favorite JD expression which is the travel exclusive single barrel BiB, it’s crazy to me that they’re not providing more value in this Sinatra Select. So, what are you paying for? Well, you do get a 1L bottle. I’m certain you are also paying for the Sinatra name. But as far as what in the process of making JD Sinatra Select are you paying more for versus other offerings, well, there’s really only one thing: barrels with increased surface area.

There is a process that JD and their cooperage use to increase the surface area inside the barrels that the whiskey can come into contact with. Mike over at Bourbon Culture explains this in great detail in his bourbonculture.com post (with a picture of said barrels), so I’m not going to try and recreate the wheel. But the thought process here is that by making some circular grooves inside the barrel, it will increase the surface area and this can increase the stave-whiskey interaction and make a more intense flavor profile OR seemingly give the whiskey a more “aged” profile without having to actually age it longer. Does it work? I think it does! While this is definitely not my favorite JD expression by a long shot, it is probably the most “oakiest” and barrel char forward Jack Daniels product I’ve tried.

Now, more oak and more barrel char aren’t normally what I’m looking for. I usually find that really old bourbons and American whiskies (let’s say 14+ years) are starting to fall away from flavor profiles that I really like which are bold, dark fruits, deep caramels, brown sugar, chocolate, toffee, etc. and start getting more heavy on earthy notes of wood and char. There’s some that really like this, but I’m not one. I think it’s all about the right balance, and those rich oaks and barrel char notes I feel bring a “distinguished” personality to a whiskey. However, you give me something with too much of that and it just simply doesn’t taste good to me – it needs balance. I mean, who wants to drink something that they feel like they’re just sucking the moisture out of a charred log from a campfire the night before? Not this guy! I find that normally bourbons in the 8-14 year range usually strike the best balance of bold, sweet notes and earthy oaky and char notes.

I’m starting to digress, but where I’m going with that is this: enter Sinatra Select! Here you have a NAS bourb, errr, Tennessee Whiskey…whatever. Can we just agree it’s a bourbon?! Here you have a bourbon that has no age statement, but rumored around 5-7 years, and it has the very distinguished and coveted oak and barrel char notes that normally come with whiskeys that are twice its age! On top of that, I still get a nice balance of sweetness. All from a 90 proof bourbon!

So, I say all that to say I think the grooves in their Sinatra Select barrels are doing something, it’s not just a gimmick. Do I think it’s worth $200? Hell no! Give me 3 bottles of JD SiB BiB or 4 bottles of JD SiB BP all day long instead of a single bottle of Sinatra Select. However, if you’re a JD or Sinatra fan, I can see how you’d be intrigued to have this bottle to add to your collection. But it’s not an awful boubon by any means, just definitely not worth the price. If this was being sold for less than $100 (as it should be), I’d probably have a different take on it. But for now, I’d recommend spending your money on a different expression if you’re wanting to experience the best Jack Daniels has to offer – it just so happens it’s not in one of their most expensive bottles. Go figure…

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.

2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.

3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.

4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.

5 | Good | Good, just fine.

6 | Very Good | A cut above.

7 | Great | Well above average

8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.

9 | Incredible | An all time favorite

10 | Perfect | Perfect