Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 96 |
| Style |
Tennessee Whiskey American Whiskey Whiskey |
| Produced In |
Kentucky United States |
| ABV | 67.35% |
| Availability | Limited |
| Price | $79.99 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Review Updated | 2024-09-24 |
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Review
Fans of high-proof Jack Daniel’s distillate rejoice: Coy Hill is back.
But if you’re looking for hazmat whiskey, a heads up: this year’s hotly anticipated release won’t be breaking any proof records. The latest series of single barrel bottlings clocks in between 122 and 137.5 proof, meaning its highest proofs are right in line with the lowest proofs from the 2021 release. (The even more limited, mostly distillery-only 2022 Small Batch Coy Hill High Proof hit even higher numbers, with batches reaching as high as 155.1 proof.)
Those prior releases came from barrels aged in the “buzzards roost” sections of Coy Hill warehouses, tucked up as close to the roofing as possible for maximum heat exposure.
It won’t be setting new marks for ABV, but the 2024 Coy Hill is still very much in the spirit of the lineup. All barrels came from the fifth and sixth floors of Barrelhouse 8, one of the distillery’s highest elevation points. Around 258 barrels comprise the release, all of which were filled on the same day: September 4, 2013. The whiskey was bottled just three weeks shy of 11 years old. (For reference, the 2021 Coy Hill release was between nine and 10 years old.) It’s made from Jack’s traditional mash bill of 80 percent corn, 8 percent rye, and 12 percent malted barley.
The barrel we sampled for this review was dumped at 134.7 proof, or 67.35 percent ABV.
Can a slightly lower-proof Coy Hill hit the highs from 2021 and 2022? Let’s see how it tastes!
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8: Stats and Availability
The first Coy Hill single barrels were released in 2021 and immediately became big hits among both Tennessee whiskey and bourbon fans. (Though let’s be honest, Tennessee whiskey IS technically bourbon.) That drove some retail and secondary prices way up, with even greater premiums for particularly high-proof barrels; back then, I saw some listed for as high as $550 in the NYC area, though those bottles didn’t move particularly quickly.
This year’s Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 bottles come with an MSRP of around $80. I expect to see them marked up on many shelves, though perhaps the (relatively) lower-proof bottles will temper prices just a bit.
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Review
As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Nose
Hard cherry candy, dried cinnamon sticks, cedar planks, vanilla extract, and blackstrap molasses kick things off here. It’s a bold combination of scents, all dialed way up.
It feels like I’m nosing Jack Daniel’s concentrate, though notably with less banana and crème brûlée compared to some of the regular cask strength Tennessee whiskey barrels I’ve tried from there. The fruit is redder, the sweetness altogether darker and more tannic. And the spice is undoubtedly more pronounced, bordering on hot cinnamon chewing gum without tipping fully into that territory. More time in the glass brings a bit of astringent wood varnish, and cedar morphs into pine.
There’s an elegance here, though, that keeps those powerful elements in something close to harmony. Cinnamon spice never quite overwhelms the fruit, and dark oak doesn’t push lighter wood scents off the ledge.
Ultimately and unsurprisingly, the nose reminds me quite of a bit of 2021’s stellar Coy Hill release, though perhaps a bit more balanced. That first Coy Hill grabbed the nostrils and flung them in all sorts of directions; it was a fun ride, but it always felt like I was fully ceding control to the whiskey. While the single barrels I tried from that run were almost all hair-raisingly punchy on the nose, the Barrelhouse 8 whiskey brings similar notes with a gentler touch. Don’t let that fool you, though: at 134.7 proof as sampled, this whiskey still packs a wallop of aromas bursting with fruit and spice.
Taste
The first sip is like a spicy dark chocolate lava cake, with warm capsaicin-laced ganache at the very center. Rich cocoa pairs with mild pepper spice for a decadent and tongue-coating whiskey that rides an early high from the front of the palate straight on back. It’s immediately great, though a bit challenging to pick out individual notes based on just one or two sips. My tongue simply needs some time to acclimate.
Shortly thereafter, a familiar Jack Daniel Distillery banana comes waltzing in, which I found comparatively muted on the nose. On subsequent sips, chocolate gradually gives way to vanilla, caramel, and sugar cookies. Pepper spice transitions back to the familiar cinnamon and clove. Medicinal cherry builds toward the back of the palate, along with barrel char and more vanilla (in this case freshly scraped vanilla bean).
The proof is certainly well accounted for, and it leaves a tingling sensation along the upper palate. I didn’t find it to be overwhelming at any one juncture. I experimented with dilution, which brings more caramel and a light coffee note. But truth be told, I preferred this particular sample at full cask strength.
Finish
The finish is — unsurprisingly — long, rich, and tannic. It’s heavy on both leather and spiced red cherry, with a barely-there menthol that cools the throat just enough to help temper the heat going down.
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Rating
96/100
Recap
Once again, Coy Hill delivers. The 2024 version is a bit softer, but with a drop in proof (and increase in age), the resulting whiskey is arguably every bit as good. Sip it neat, sip it with water, do what you please: If you’re lucky enough to score a bottle, just make sure to share with friends.
*Image retrieved from Jack Daniel’s
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