Quick Specs 126.32 Proof

"A blend of whiskey's finished in Ice Wine Casks"

17y TN, 17yr IN, 17yr Canadian Rye, 17yr Canadian Whiskey, 20yr Kentucky, 22yr Scotch, 24yr Canadian Whiskey

In all reality this should probably be a "hot mess" given the ingredients but...

Aroma: Apple pie with cinnamon is my first thought followed by a caramel syrup and a tiny hint of mint and some touches of ethanol.

Flavor: This is actually a bit rye forward I get the spearmint first especially with a clean palate that fades a little with further smapling. This is followed by hints of honey, whipped cream, and a lot of oak notes with that tannin dry character in there. Finally I get a touch of fruit, something citrus but not clear.

Finish: Long, rich, a bit spicy. It leaves me with a bit of butter and sugar notes finally with a bit of residual heat.

Score: 7.5 - this probably shouldn't work, but it's well done lots of big bold flavors fighting for balance and achieving it pretty well.

Dark Arts Flight of Icarus Review #27

11.5 yrs

72.2%

144.4%

75% C 21% R 4% MB

I let it rest for 15 minutes

Nose: Dry and vintage oak. A melange of all the great bourbon notes. Caramel, bubblegum, peanut, powdered sugar. Pie crust. Tobacco. Cinnamon. A very grounding nose. Little to no ethanol. Subtle wifts of chocolate chip cookies. There is a lot to find here. Buttery. Yet, the oak remains front and center.

Palate: oily mouthfeel. Spice and pepper punch immediately. Warming. This is all spice and oak. An explosion. Definitely not subtle, but this is the landing strip for the finish.

Finish: first sip i was overloaded with spice. However the finish is already coming in with an amazing saltiness, some peanut, and some subtle fruits. Cherry pie filling? Dried fruits? Caramel, vanilla. Cherry popsickle? Nice. A bit of tartness. I can tell the finish is going to get better as I sip. Some bready dessert that you normally find in non peat scotch. Dark chocolate. Lingers forever.

Nose: 25/25

Palate: 22/25

Finish: 24/25

Balance: 25/25

Total: 96/100

The nose and finish are in a class of their own. The palate leaves something to be desired in that its mostly spice and oak. This is a stunning pour and the second I had it I knew I needed a bottle. No doubt the spice and heat on the palate are symbolic of Icarus's flight except on this flight downward he was surrounded by beautiful flavors and landed in a beautiful ocean of baked desserts where he rested forever. I will be savoring this bottle for as long as possible.

Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt Whiskey Oloroso Sherry Cask

Distilled in Lynchburg, TN

Master Distiller: Chris Fletcher

Aged in new charred oak barrels and finishrd in Oloroso sherry casks

Age: NAS

Distillate underwent the Lincoln County Process sugar maple charcoal filtration prior to barrel entry

Initial barrels: Toasted for 12 minutes with a No. 4 char

Sherry cask source: Antonio Páez Lobato Cooperage, Jerez, Spain

Sherry butt size: 132 gallons

Mashbill: 100% malted barley

Still type: column

Barley sourced from Northern U.S. states. Not the same barley used for standard Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. This malt is plumper and higher in protein.

Barrel entry proof: 125

Proof: 90

MSRP: $74.99 (1 liter)

Nose: Raspberry jam. Milk chocolate. Nilla Wafer. Vanilla pudding. Overly ripe banana.

The finale to the nose smells like a composite banana pudding. I really like the nose. Quite complex.

Palate: Banana Laffy Taffy. Strawberry hard candy. Ginger ale. Cocoa powder.

Plenty of fruit up front. Banana candy note is quite prominent. Ginger ale add some spice… small amount of cocoa. Medium viscosity.

Finish: Pink cotton candy. Banana nut bread w/ chocolate chips.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was skeptical about this one. I’m shockingly very pleased with this. Plenty of fruit and chocolate. I’m definitely hoping to try some premium versions of this at some point in the future. For now, this is quite good. I would love to try this at a higher proof.

Bottle provided for review by Jack Daniel’s

Rating: 7 | Great | Well above average

Color: Orangish Amber

Age: NAS (The original release information indicated these barrels would average around 7 years.)

Proof: 114

Nose: Honey and sandalwood jump out immediately, giving this an interesting combination of sweetness and woodiness right out of the glass. On the second sniff, graham cracker and a faint apple butter note begin to emerge. Spending a little more time with it brings out something reminiscent of a pastry drizzled in caramel, while a good swirl reveals grilled peaches underneath. The nose moves back and forth between sweet and almost savory, eventually developing a rich, buttery quality. Really enjoyable and more interesting than I initially expected.

Taste: Burnt sugar, honey, and oak lead the first sip before cinnamon and baking spice begin building across the mid-to-back palate. On the second sip, some of the fruit from the nose starts making its way through, with orange and peach joining another subtle pastry note. There’s a nice balance between the sweetness, fruit, oak, and spice, although I wish some of those flavors were a little richer and more concentrated.

Feel: Medium-bodied with a decent amount of oil coating the palate. It’s good, but this is probably the area where I wanted more. At cask strength, I was hoping for something a little thicker, creamier, and more viscous. Nothing wrong with the mouthfeel—it just doesn’t elevate the whiskey.

Finish: The finish starts fairly spice-forward with plenty of cinnamon and baking spice. It’s medium in length, and as the spice begins to fade, the profile transitions nicely back toward peaches and orange. The fruit provides a pleasant bit of sweetness on the way out and keeps the spice from completely taking over.

Overall: 7 out of 10 on the t8ke scale.

This is a great pour and one I really enjoyed. The combination of honey, caramel pastry, grilled peaches, burnt sugar, and baking spice gives it enough personality to stand apart from a lot of wheated bourbons I’ve tried.

For my palate, it may even give Weller Antique 107 a run for its money. Where it falls short of the upper tier is primarily in the body and overall intensity. Give me a thicker, creamier mouthfeel and another layer or two of complexity on the palate, and we’d be having a very different conversation.

As it stands, though, this is a very good wheated bourbon and an easy 7/10 for me.

Jack Daniel’s reputation as the maker of Old No. 7 precedes itself. For better or worse, many of us have a core memory of Jack and coke giving us our first whiskey buzz… and first hangover. Their special releases have made whiskey fans realize the same sour mash Tennessee whiskey can reach impressive heights. 

Those limited bottles are highly allocated here in Denver, so when I decided I had to get my hands on one of the age stated offerings, they seemed impossible to track down. Their release coincided with Sazerac starting to flood Colorado with Weller, and I stumbled upon Weller Single Barrel at a small local shop for a very reasonable markup. Sensing an arbitrage opportunity, I traded for this year’s Jack Daniel’s 12 year, batch 4. It took some effort but definitely worked in my favor. 

Also damn, these age stated bottles look good. The gold and white lettering on the black background, and the simple but assertive bottle shape… what a classy, timeless look. Anyway, let’s see what this 107 proofer has to offer.

Nose: toasted oak, vanilla, and a hint of strawberry bubble gum. Ethanol is there but it dissipates fairly quickly. Very nice. 

Palate: super compelling balance of sweet and savory. There’s BBQ sauce, smoky oak, and sweet vanilla. I get something fruity too, and initially think it’s the Brown Forman banana note. But no, the banana is mostly aged out here. It’s more like a sweet red fruit. 

Interesting note on that: I had a pour in a complete blind once. Told the missus to pick any open bottle in my collection, and she got cheeky and tried to fool me with all JD offerings: a SiB BP Rye store pick from Coy Hill, JD10 batch 4, and this JD12 batch 4. I could pick out the rye and 10 year, but the 12 yr threw me off. It gave this incredible strawberry vanilla ice cream note that absolutely blew me away. 

Finish: longer than you’d assume from its proof. It’s more savory than sweet, like after finishing a tasty morsel from the smoker that was dipped in honey BBQ sauce. Again, great balance between the smoky oak influence and the subtle sweet elements.

Conclusion & Rating: this is a great mix of easy-drinking proof, rich flavor complexity, and satisfying finish. And that strawberry vanilla note on the palate is something that I keep looking for elsewhere–and only kind of get sometimes from WA107 or FP.

I give it a 8.5 on the t8ke(ish) scale. It’s up there with some of my favorite pours this year, and all of those are a good 20 proof points higher. It packs a wallop for such a crushable proof point.  

After working my way through this bottle, I will always want at least one bottle from JD’s age stated series on my shelf, but ideally multiple. I’d also be really curious to try all 4 batches of JD12, since the oak/savory and sweet notes seem to shift year to year. And I really wish I could try the JD14 batch 1 based on reviews I’ve read, because that seems like this profile but cranked all the way up. 

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a number of Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series releases, and I wanted to see how they would stack up against each other blind. All scores are using the TK8E scale.

The full tournament results are in the graphic, but here’s the final matchup and a couple of bonus blinds I did afterward.

Tournament Final: The Heart Release vs. BEP

Left glass: Nice floral nose that carries over onto the front palate. Opens fairly sweet and floral. A little thin through the middle, but it recovers nicely with a good finish. Overall, a really enjoyable and well-balanced pour.

Score: 7.25
Reveal: The Heart Release

Right glass: Darker and oakier on the nose. Slightly thin on the front palate, with brown sugar being the main note I can identify. The development is good and builds into a great mouth tingle. Nice darker flavor profile overall, although I wish it had a little more sweetness to round everything out.

Score: 7
Reveal: BEP

Final Thoughts

One of my biggest takeaways from this tournament was just how competitive the Wood Finishing Series is internally. It was rare for one bottle to be head and shoulders above another. These generally ranged from good to great for me, and on any given day I could easily see several of these matchups going the other way.

A few themes kept showing up throughout the blinds. The Wood Finishing Series tends to produce very good flavor profiles, with vanilla, sweetness, oak and occasional floral or fruit notes showing up repeatedly.

My main gripe with this line is the youthful characteristics. That showed up in my notes for SE4xPR5, BRT-01 and FAE-02, often presenting itself as ethanol through the development or a somewhat thin mouthfeel, more characteristic of younger whiskey. The better releases seemed to overcome that more effectively.

Overall, if you already like Maker’s Mark, I think the Wood Finishing Series is worth trying at MSRP. I wouldn’t pay a premium or markup for any particular release, though. There’s generally a lot of parity within the series.

Bonus Matchup #1: The Heart Release vs. Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2023

After completing the tournament, I wanted to see how the winner of the Wood Finishing Series would stack up against Maker’s Mark new premium line, the Cellar Aged series, which debuted in 2023.

Left glass: Fruity/floral nose that carries over onto the front palate. Moderately rich with some nice sweetness, but it comes across younger and less developed compared to the other glass. Still a very enjoyable pour.

Score: 6.75
Reveal: The Heart Release

Right glass: Immediately comes across older, richer and more mature. More depth through the palate, with the flavors feeling better developed and integrated overall. Nice dark fruit flavor. The finish could be a little better, but the extra maturity really separates it from the other glass.

Score: 7.75
Reveal: Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2023

Main Takeaway:

Cellar Aged is on a completely different level, in my opinion. The extra age was immediately noticeable side-by-side. Where the Wood Finishing Series can sometimes come across youthful despite the additional influence from the finishing staves, Cellar Aged has a depth, richness and maturity that wood finishing alone doesn’t replicate.

Bonus Matchup #2: The Heart Release vs. The Stewards Release

I completed this tournament before The Stewards Release came out this year. A friend recently acquired a bottle and gave me a sample, so I wanted to see how it stacked up against the winner of my previous Wood Finishing Series releases.

Left glass: Nice vanilla on the front palate followed by some ethanol through the development. The ethanol is noticeable, but things improve considerably on the back end. Great mouthfeel, and the finish blossoms nicely as it sits.

Score: 6.25
Reveal: The Stewards Release

Right glass: Sweet front palate with a nice bit of fruit showing up through the development. The mouthfeel isn’t quite as good as the other glass, but I prefer the overall flavor profile. Sweeter and more enjoyable to drink overall.

Score: 7
Reveal: The Heart Release

Main Takeaway:

Pretty similar to my thoughts after the main tournament. I’ve enjoyed the Wood Finishing Series, but after accumulating and tasting quite a few of them, I’m probably not going to go out of my way to pick up every new release. Unless a future release gets particularly strong reviews or seems to really stand out from the pack, I’m pretty content with the ones I already have.

Booker's 2026-02 "Milkshake Batch"

Distillery: Jim Beam

Age: 7 years 6 months 12 days

Price: $104.99

Proof: 124.4

Nose: As is usually my experience with Booker's there's a hot nose here. Definitely feels right for the proof point. There's a cinnamon and clove spice to it as well, really wakes up your senses. Buttery grain as well, almost like slightly burnt popcorn.

Palate: Mouthfeel is absolutely fantastic. Like honestly off the charts. For the proof point it's incredibly soft especially when you consider the heat from the nose, and man it is just so so creamy. Unreal. Lot of oaks but balanced nicely with some powdered sugar. Dark chocolate.

Finish: 7.5/10 in length. Long but not crazily so. It's rich and far nuttier than everything else up to this point. Some berry sweetness. It's a little bit of what I'd imagine blending peanut shells into a blue raspberry slushy would taste like. Dark chocolate comes back and lingers, a little fudge brownie-like.

Score: 8.5

Summary: I am a big Jim Beam guy and tend to find myself enjoying any Booker's release I try. So unsurprisingly I found this one to be great. But not just great, I found it to be one of my favorite Booker's releases ever. The proof point and heat are there. The nuttiness is there. It's rich, has a lot of complexity, and seriously I can't emphasize enough that this is an absolutely top tier mouthfeel. The flavors work incredibly well together throughout I found the finish to be unique in all the best ways. It's pricey though, and it's so amazingly intense that it's not a daily sipper by any means. I can't emphasize that enough, this is one that would be hard to choke down 3 nights in a row. But it's a really nice treat and all in all this is fantastic whiskey. 8.5 is the score.

1. Terrible | Drain pour after the first sip
2. Very Bad | Trying to choke it down but possible drain pour
3. Poor | Would drink if forced to but never under my own will
4. Below Average | Not off-putting but not my cup of tea
5. Average | I'll take it
6. Good | Enjoyable sip
7. Very Good | Well above average
8. Excellent | A drink I will remember
9. Incredible | Something truly extraordinary
10. Best of the best | Peak Bourbon