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Jack "Bananas" Daniel's


TNbourbon
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Been quite awhile since I've revisited JD. But, last month I purchased 3 100ml Jack Daniel's #7 Black Label bottles in order to cannibalize the pocketable flasks for Cliff, Randy and my outing to the Seahawks-Titans game. Not wanting to simply pour the whiskey down the drain, instead I poured it into a saved 375ml flask-style bottle, not really knowing what I'd eventually do with it.

Tonight, while simply looking for something over which to pour the remnants of a 20-ounce Coke, I grabbed that saved JD. Wow, was I surprised! In both nose and taste, the overpowering sense is bananas -- or, rather, banana peels after they've been in the trash bin overnight. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant (I'm completely neutral about it -- and unchallenged), but so lacking in complexity or 'whiskey-ness' that I'm hard-pressed to figure how this stuff makes such a splash in the whiskey marketplace.

Are my tastebuds that far gone tonight (after a single other drink!?), or is this really what Jack now tastes like? This stuff is so inconsequential I can neither like it nor hate it.

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Tim, I have never, ever been a fan of Jack and Coke, and for that matter never like any whiskey polluted with anything other than ice or water and even that rarely. If I find myself wanting a coke cocktail (usually just because I need the caffeine for what I know is a long night ahead of me) I order Captain Morgan which for some reason to me seems to go unbelievably well with coke! So yes I am with you somewhat in that I cannot vouch for nor strongly dislike JD and Coke, and I really do seem to recall a hint of banana the last time I mixed the two, but again I am no expert by any means – just recall that the aroma and taste wasn’t something I expected. But as you say I cannot imagine why so many people like Jack and Coke? Maybe it is something they grew up with? If they like the jack why not have it straight with a coke chaser (sissies), but otherwise I really do not see that a better mixer for coke than captain morgan. Maybe I am the sissy?

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Inconsequential. I think that's it. Had some not too long ago at an open bar where it was pretty much that or JB White. Went back to JB.

Bob

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...I really do seem to recall a hint of banana the last time I mixed the two...

I failed to also point out that I both sniffed and sipped, too, before mixing the Jack and Coke. The mentioned bananas sensations were present prominently both neat and mixed.

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Tim, I think the point of Jack is not the whisky, it's the marketing. You can have anything with a JD logo on it and it validates your choice of product. You can play with JD cards and chips, wear your JD hat. There's probably even a JD edition of a Ford Bronco or something out there. If there is one thing JD has done, it's build a self sustaining image. I think at this point they could quit distilling whisky all together and remain a viable company for many many years.

Ken

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If there is one thing JD has done, it's build a self sustaining image. I think at this point they could quit distilling whisky all together and remain a viable company for many many years.

Sort of like West Coast Choppers. smile.gif I wonder what percentage of people sporting WCC logos on their shirts or car/truck windows have actually ridden a motorcycle, let alone actually own a bike built by them?

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I was drinking my one bottle of JD Single Barrel, I too detected bananas on the pallate.

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  • 3 months later...

I can see what you are saying about the bananas. There is defiintely a hint of it. It reminds me of my girlfriends banana bread she sometimes makes.

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I always get two things from JD: bananas and salt-water taffy. Always. I can smell and identify it from across the room. I don't find it offensive, but it's not especially appealing, either. I'll sip it if that's all that's available or if I don't feel like coughing up $10/glass for something better that I already have at home.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I really liked JD until I tried real bourbon. Any sentimental attachment I had for JD was washed away when I found out they watered it down to 80 proof. What strikes me as odd is that it still retains that bad boy of whiskeys image despite this. Just goes to show how much people are swayed by good marketing. I occasionally find myself in situations where JD is the only "bourbon" in the bar (airplanes, convention centers) in this case I still prefer it to most other drink choices, but only when mixed with coke.

I have always noticed that odd taste that you describe as day old banana peels, but I had never been able to place it. This description seems as apt to me as any, but I'll have to try it for myself.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I really liked JD until I tried real bourbon. Any sentimental attachment I had for JD was washed away when I found out they watered it down to 80 proof. What strikes me as odd is that it still retains that bad boy of whiskeys image despite this.

A little over a year ago we were entertaining some friends when someone remarked about all the whiskey in my liquor cabinet (glass door). At that time I had a bottle of JD (86 proof). I overheard one person say in reference to the Jack Daniel's : Ooh! One shot of that and I'd be on the floor; or something to that effect. That bottle of JD was sitting next to a bottle of Booker's, WT RB and 05' Stagg. Marketing and name recognition. What else could explain it.

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At that time I had a bottle of JD (86 proof). I overheard one person say in reference to the Jack Daniel's : Ooh! One shot of that and I'd be on the floor; or something to that effect. That bottle of JD was sitting next to a bottle of Booker's, WT RB and 05' Stagg. Marketing and name recognition. What else could explain it.

Then again, it's a lot easier to slug down a shot of 80-86 proof whiskey than something like Stagg, Booker's, OGD 114 et.al.

Even though I usually take Stagg neat, I sip it so slowly that a single pour will last a looooooong time, paradoxically lowering my overall alcohol intake.

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