Is my Dickel bad?

[Jessica]

just had to add a note...that when Tom had a wicked sinus infection last winter...he didn't like any of his bourbon. To the point of getting rather depressed about it, and wondering if it was the water or the glassware or the soap, or how he was storing the bottles. A month and some clear sinuses later...everything tasted fine. Just wanted to let you know that on the sickness related to taste/smell/finish front...you aren't alone.

[Gillman]

There is something different about Tennessee whiskey. I'd have thought the upfront soaking in charcoal would impart an "advance" smokiness, but that isn't really the case. It gives another quality to the whiskey, one hard to pin down. It is a good mixing whiskey (e.g. with Coke) but on its own, except in the best versions (Jack Single Barrel) I find the taste not as good as most Bourbon. I find Gentleman Jack has that non-Bourbon character in abundance; after all, it submits to charcoal leaching twice. Maybe perfumy is the right word. There seems too an astringency associated with the Tennessee style, although maybe it is because they are all sold (except one of the Dickel's) at relatively young ages. Speaking of age and Tennessee, in Michael Jackson's (1987) World Guide To Whisky, there is a picture of a bottle of Jack Daniel's, clearly pre-Prohibition, of which the label states the age as 21 years. Now that would be an interesting shot of whiskey to get down.

Gary

[cowdery]

Word choice is everything, so one man's "mellowing" is another's "leaching." That's the word Kentucky whiskey-makers use to describe the Lincoln County Process, "leaching." I further characterize it as an aging shortcut. The whiskey has a lot of contact with char but no contact with the red layer that underlies the char in a barrel. Char will eliminate or transform certain congeners but it doesn't add any flavor. That comes from the other wood components that are present in a barrel but not in a stack of hardwood charcoal.

Kentucky whiskey-makers assert, and I agree, that the charcoal leaching process reduces harshness but at the cost of flavor. It generally produces whiskey that is inoffensive but bland. This quality, which some people characterize as "smoothness," accounts for the popularity of the Tennessee Whiskeys as well as Canadian whisky. The Canadians do it, not through leaching, but through high distillation proof and blending.

[Gillman]

I enjoyed this, excellent and trenchant.

Gary

[tdelling]

>The whiskey has a lot of contact with char but no contact with the red

>layer that underlies the char in a barrel. Char will eliminate or transform

>certain congeners but it doesn't add any flavor. That comes from the other wood

>components that are present in a barrel but not in a stack of hardwood

>charcoal.

I've never been to a distillery in Tennessee, and I know very little about

the specifics of the Lincoln County process, but it seems to me that if

you're going to go to the trouble of using "sugar maple", then you should

make sure to leave some "red layer" at the heart of each piece of charcoal.

Or at least *some* of the charcoal.

Tim Dellinger

[cowdery]

Perhaps they do, but would it matter in that environment? The whiskey takes a few hours to go through ten feet of charcoal. How deeply could it penetrate into any given piece?

[bluesbassdad]

Tim,

If you will go here and advance to step 2, the rickyard, you will see a description of the charcoal-making process. The way I read it, I wouldn't expect anything but charcoal -- no red layer at all.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[B_Dub___Cigar_Ambassador]

Jeff, the title to your thread has got to be a classic on this forum. Cracks me up every time I see it. Freud would be proud.