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Jack Daniels Silver Select


Gillman
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This is the internationally available (export only) luxury version of Jack Daniels. My friend Gary Hodder brought some back from a trip to the Caribbean.

This whiskey is 100 proof (vs. 94 proof for the U.S. Single Barrel) and is, quite simply, a revelation.

It has much less of the signature candy- or licorice-like taste of Jack including Single Barrel. It is drier, richer, more bourbon-like, more complex than any other Jack Daniels I know.

In fact if tasted blind I doubt any bourbon expert could tell it was Jack whiskey.

I believe it is older than the Single Barrel version of Jack. It has in any case more finesse than any Single Barrel I have had (and I've had quite a few over the years).

Well done, Brown Forman. I believe this whiskey is very close to the classic 100 proof Jack Daniels sold in the pre-Prohibition era. As often happens, things take longer to change in distant markets and I feel Silver Select is sold there to appeal to the taste that has never forgot the true Jack Daniels.

A must taste for any straight whiskey fan.

Gary

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Gary....I have an opened bottle of this too and I agree.....you can't tell its JD from the taste. I haven't tried it lately, but I always suspected the higher proof accounted for the richer taste....but it may be older too.

BTW, its widely available in Duty Free shops for $40. Funny story about my bottle. I bought it on the way to a family vacation down in Pueto Vallarta, Mex a few years ago. Left it on the plane. Damn....I was looking forward to drinking it in Mexico. Anyway, on the return, we check in with Continental and I think......maybe, just maybe, its in lost and found. They had it....and it stayed there for a week. Now if it had been tequila, that would have a different ending.

Randy

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Hi Randy, thanks, good to hear your experience matches with mine because it means the Silver Select has a profile, it is not just barrel differences that account for the refined, bourbon-like flavor.

That's amazing you got that bottle back, I'd say it is a magic bottle truly!

I believe that pre-Prohibition and early (to the 70's?) post-Pro Jack Daniels tasted like this 100 proofer. Part of it is, I surmise, the higher proofs of the era (originally 100, then 90 before the later reductions) compared to the standard JD of today.

Jack Daniel is a good drink in any form but the Silver Select seems a cut above indeed.

Maybe one day we'll get to taste an old JD (say, 1950's-era) at a Gazebo meeting, that would be interesting, to see if the Silver Select is similar.

Sorry I couldn't join you in Chicago, it looks like the crowd had a great time. Just very busy at work now; maybe next year.

Gary

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  • 1 month later...
Any website or anything where I could get my hands on this?

I think one of these was on ebay a couple of days ago. If I recall correctly, it was still set to run another 4-5 days. You might want to check it out if still interested.

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Sadly, Jack Daniel's has the same "problem" as Maker's Mark. I put "problem" in quotes because it is more of a problem for us. It is the kind of "problem" any producer of anything prays for, i.e., they are selling all they can make. The "problem," for us, is that this doesn't give them much of an incentive to make a product such as this widely available. I've often thought JD could benefit from extra aging, but I think it's unlikely that we will ever see a Jack 12-year-old, for example.

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I've often thought JD could benefit from extra aging, but I think it's unlikely that we will ever see a Jack 12-year-old, for example.

That's the beauty of rebarreling.:grin:

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Silver select would have to be the one bourbon i look for when duty free shopping.

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I first came across Silver Select in Duty free around mid 1999 when I worked out in Switzerland. I agree with Gary that this is a superb offering from JD.

I used to alternate between that and Gentleman Jack as either something for me to enjoy or as a gift to my best buds (thank God I choose them carefully or it could have been expensive!)

Now I think about it, despite the huge price difference, the GJ did not even come close to the Silver select. One of the best non Bourbons I have ever tasted and would hold it's own against any Bourbon in a head to head.

I know Brian is a fan of normal Jack so if you do manage to get hold of some Silver Select you will be in Heaven I am sure...

Not any tasting notes per say but I remember an almost Cognac like sophistication to the whiskey, pleasantly full bodied, carried the 100 proof perfectly and was silky smooth.

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Funny that I'm just seeing this thread, because I was browsing the duty free in DFW on Thursday afternoon, and I saw this very label. Silver Select was the only thing in the bourbon family (cousin?) on the shelf that I hadn't seen before. Everything else was real common. Should have bought it!

Pete

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Greetings Gentleman...

If anyone would like some assistance with getting the JD Silver Select I would be quite happy to help:grin:

All you have to do is ask...

I had this one sent to the distillery(sorry this one is gone now)...I have a Monogram also signed

I have yet to sample either, however now I am rather keen to sample the Silver Select as I do enjoy the Single Barrel!

post-1210-14489812402255_thumb.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

I have been re tasting a lot of brands from this summer and still. Some have tasted less good, some about equal and some better. Silver select that I haven’t tasted since 2002 is maybe the one that tasted the best of all compared to my memory. Enormous difference from the normal JD. Very, very intense with a never-ending finish and a bit dryer than the old 7. Al row it has fruit and vanilla in the taste it defiantly is the “Tennessee taste†that dominate. It does remind me a bit of smoky Islay single malt whisky in the sense that you have to like peat-smoke or Tennessee to like any of them. I would say that this is the best Tennessee I have tasted and it stand up to almost every bourbon or rye I have ever tasted.

Leif

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I believe Silver Select and Single Barrel are the same whiskey, just different packaging, and I agree. I like it as well as anything else in that price point and would gladly drink it anytime, anywhere.

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The Silver Select is bottled at 100 proof, opposed to the normal SB US 94 proof, or the 90 proof 700mL we get down here in Oz.

Scott

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I´ve also read somewhere that it is supposed to be the same as the standard SB, only with higher proof, but I simply refuse to believe it.

Just as the others here who´ve tried it, I find it to be the least demonstrably JD that I´ve tried. Not necessarily better than the standard SB, just different.

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I´ve also read somewhere that it is supposed to be the same as the standard SB, only with higher proof, but I simply refuse to believe it...

Jack Daniel's only makes one whiskey. The only way they CAN vary it is using age/barrel selection and different proof. The folks on-site say the only barrel selection they do is of the 'next-one-in-line' variety, once they're selected for bottling -- unless the barrel is one personally selected by a retailer/distributor.

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I was told by Mr. Bedford himself that all of the commemorative bottlings are the same as black label, except for proof differences, and Silver Select is the same as Single Barrel, except for proof differences. I'm not exactly sure when the barrels for Single Barrel get designated as such, but they finish aging in a special warehouse and, of course, have their own bottling line. That's what is in the warehouses that are right there on the main "campus." The regular stuff is aged and bottled down the road at a much less picturesque location.

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OK, point taken.

But, as others have already confirmed, the difference is striking. Surely the barrels should be different from the standard SB, at least?

I find it hard to believe that difference of proof can account for so much variety. At the end of last year, I got myself a French 100 proof version of the Four Roses SB, and, yes, it was different to the 86 proof version. But not strikingly so.

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Well, single barrel is single barrel. There will be variation, even at the same proof.

Also, whiskey "profiling" is not an exact science, least of all with single barrel products. Tasters taste samples against a reference sample and rate them. The ratings usually are on a multiple point scale but the dividing line is, essentially, "close enough" and "not close enough."

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One thing I am wondering about is filtration. Is it known if Silver Select is filtered?

Gary

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One thing I am wondering about is filtration. Is it known if Silver Select is filtered?

Gary

Do you mean chill filtered prior to bottling? I assume so. That's pretty much the default practice unless someone explicitly does not for a particular product.

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Chill-filtered, yes. If it is not chill-filtered, maybe this explains the seeming higher quality. I have noticed this myself, there seems a more intense, fruity quality to Silver Select.

Gary

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