Review #775 - Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Heritage Barrel

Jack Daniel's has introduced a new member of their single barrel lineup. In addition to the well-known single barrel barrel proof Tennessee whisky, the equivalent rye version, and the single barrel select whiskies, there's now this Heritage Barrel version. This is not meant to be a one-time, special release - it's joining the regular lineup, and should be widely available year-round.

The name 'Heritage Barrel' refers to the type of barrel that is used for maturation; for this release, the distillery is using highly-toasted, low-char American white oak barrels, instead of the usually more highly-charred new oak barrels. Jack Daniel's says this is a modern interpretation of barrels they used to age whisky many years ago; they suggest that this will add some sweeter vanilla or marshmallow notes to their spirit. The minimum age of these single barrels is 7 years old, and our specific bottle comes from a barrel that clocked in at 8 years.

This Tennessee whisky is bottled at a strength of 50% ABV (100 proof), and it's generally available for $60 to $70.

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Heritage Barrel

USA - Tennessee

Price: USD 70 (2026)

Age Statement: 8 Years

Strength: 50% ABV

Cask Makeup: High-toast, low-char new American white oak barrel

Details: Barrel 25-09461; barreled July 12, 2017; bottled December 16, 2025

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 2 months; bottles at 100%, 90%, and 80% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Sweet, with a nice mixture of cherries, vanilla, and bananas. Soft toasted oak comes in, and it gets stronger with time, a little starchy and leathery too. There are hints of cinnamon rolls and sweet old tobacco; accents include strawberries, toasted marshmallow, and whipped cream.

Palate: Leathery, with stronger oak on the palate than we found on the nose. Dry campfire wood, vanilla, some wood spice, and burnt toast; then it's orange, tart bright cherry, strong brown banana skins, and overripe banana. Nutmeg and some tannins build with time, and at the end, we get banana cream pie. This has a medium thickness mouthfeel.

Finish: Banana bread, toasted oak, lots of bright vanilla and cream notes. There's just a hint of grain, then we get even stronger banana notes - more banana peel. The finish has a medium length.

Final Note: Results will vary of course, as this is a single barrel product, but we think this is a great release from Jack Daniel's. The nose especially is amazing, with a great variety of sweet fruit and baking notes, even some older oak notes like tobacco that we don't typically find on whiskies of this age. The palate is still good too, but maybe a little more simple and oak-dominated than the nose; overall, very good stuff, a whisky we've been enjoying a lot.

Value here is very good. Jack Daniel's is known for pricing all of their releases, including their more limited annual editions, very fairly, at least if you can find them at retail instead of the secondary market. We think that $60 or $70 is great for this Heritage Barrel release, and we'll be picking up another when our current bottle is gone.

Our Rating: 7.2 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 6.96

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.