By Richard Thomas
Rating: C+
Daddy Rack Tennessee Whiskey
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
With its booming craft scene, Tennessee Whiskey has become a growing and vibrant regional sub-category to American bourbon. To briefly review what that means, Tennessee Whiskey is in all respects bourbon, except that it is made in Tennessee and has the additional production step of filtering the new make whiskey through sugar maple charcoal prior to barreling. Make and age your whiskey in Tennessee in this way, and you have Tennessee Whiskey. The category consisted only of Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel for decades, and the first crop of new distillers to come to Tennessee in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s didn’t make it. It’s only in recent years that the Volunteer State’s native style really took off.
This is a sourced whiskey, drawn from stock made from 80% corn, 10% rye and 10% malted barley (traditionally, Tennessee Whiskeys are very high corn, but this is not mandated under state law). Daddy Rack is made with double filtration through sugar maple charcoal, and in batches of no more than 20 barrels at a time. So, it’s a small batch whiskey, and bottled at 80 proof. This is a sourced whiskey, and although the source isn’t specified, the list of candidates making whiskey both in Tennessee and with that specific mash bill isn’t a long one.
The Whiskey
Once in the glass, this whiskey takes on a dull copper look. The nose is light and airy, but sweet with candy corn and banana, and a touch spicy. The flavor follows largely from there, running with candy corn and vanilla, plus a sliver of spicy oak. The finish went down short and cookie-esque.
Unlike some, I didn’t find the whiskey aggressive at all. The whole point of the Lincoln County Process is to make a young whiskey smooth and palatable ahead of schedule of other bourbons. Instead, my thought is that although this is a sweet, smooth whiskey, it’s really lacking in the character department.
The Price
That said, the price point isn’t bad: $30 per bottle.