My eyebrows raised about a year ago when I heard chatter about Jack Daniel’s Bonded being one of the most exciting distillery products released in a long time. Then, I stumbled across articles by picky bourbon-specific blogs that gave it surprisingly positive coverage. Even the rabble on Reddit, who tend to hate everything, seemed to like it. At that point, my eyebrows were doing Duane “The Rock” Johnson kinds of things.
Now that my arm has been twisted and after parting with 27 dollars, I can say this: I’m not in love. I think Jack Daniel’s Bonded is pretty mediocre (more on this later), but it’s continued confirmation that I’m a very different kind of whiskey drinker than a lot of the more vociferous personalities on the internet.
Specifically, here’s what I mean by that comment: if you give me a choice—not just with whiskey, but in just about all things—between more and better, I will always pick better.
Let’s take a small detour to talk about Old Forester, another bourbon producer. I really like what Old Forester is doing, and they have two products I quite like and that I’ve reviewed for you guys: the 1920 “Prohibition Style” Edition, which is a very high-proof bourbon, and the 1910 “Old Fine Whiskey” Edition, which is lower-proof but more well-aged and sophisticated. These are two good bottles, but at least for me, the 1910 almost always gets the nod.
Returning to Jack Daniel’s, there’s a veritable chasm between the Single Barrel Select and the Bonded version. Both are bottles intended to address two chief criticisms with the distillery’s “Old No. 7” (a bottle that’s so ubiquitous you could probably find one at a kindergarten cafeteria if you looked hard enough): namely, that the whiskey is a little watery, and that it’s a little rough. Both bottles are JD’s attempt to say, “Hey, sophisticates: we hear the criticism, and we’re addressing your concerns.”
“The Jack Daniel’s Bonded is admittedly is a better quality whisky with more depth and flavor than the flagship product, but the flaws are evident.”
With the Single Barrel Select, JD made everything better. The off-notes are gone, the distillery signature of bananas foster is dialed way up, and the ABV has been increased. It’s a product that makes it a little easier to envision a time when Jack Daniel’s was a distillery of note and a mainstay of Hollywood A-listers. There’s an easy grace to the whiskey I really enjoy. No sense gushing more over it here when I already did it there.
With the JD Bonded, the whiskey has been dialed up a little further to 50% ABV in an effort to brand itself more as a craft product. Despite the effort, it’s still a little harsh, and it’s still a little flavor deficient—especially if you’re comparing it to what else is out there at 100 proof.
There are times, admittedly, when the JD Bonded reminds me of the Single Barrel Select. Every now and again, either in the finish, aroma, or midway through a sip, you’ll be presented with some permutation of pan-fried bananas. It’s a very particular combination of banana and caramelized sugar, and when it works, it works fabulously.
However, lurking in the aroma and during the actual sipping, you’re going to find an utterly inelegant one-two punch of oak and nail polish. Especially when sipped at the full proof, the JD Bonded offers very little beyond corn funk, oak tannins, and the general sourness of a whiskey that needed more time in the barrel.
Naturally, the word “bonded” implies it’s at least four years old. That amount of time may work for the distillate coming out of Heaven Hill—I will continue to stand by the Old Grand Dad Bonded. However, this bottle is telling me that Jack Daniel’s simply needs more time to put its best foot forward. Supposing they provided it with that time, I think you’d end up with the Single Barrel Select.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I live in a world where I have a choice of sourcing an awesome version of Jack Daniel’s for $40 or a version that approaches that goal without quite getting there—and charges me $27 for the privilege. The Bonded tastes like a half measure.
I’ll end this with a rock analogy: Jack Daniel’s “Old No. 7” is like the band Hoobastank and their single “The Reason.” Fair or not, mention Hoobastank in a room of music sophisticates and people will turn their noses up. Very likely, “The Reason” is better than you remember it or suspect it might be coming from a band named Hoobastank—you don’t get to a BILLION views on YouTube without connecting to at least a few people—but it’s still not what I’d call good.
Now imagine that “The Reason” comes on the radio right at this very moment. I’ll cede the point that it’s hard to vibe to anything played too softly, but you’re not going to make that song any better by cranking the volume.
JD Bonded is Hoobastank played loud. While it’s beloved to no small number of people, I don’t see what the fuss is about and I certainly feel like I’ve experienced as much as I want to.
