What does it take to turn Jack Daniel’s into a Gentleman? Well for starters it gets a second sugar maple charcoal filtering… and that’s it. Sure they might pick slightly better barrels that may have aged in slightly more premium spots in the rick house (barrel warehouse), but that’s pure conjecture and really it’s just the second filtering that turns Jack into a Gentleman.
Jack Daniels gets it’s first sugar maple charcoal filtration (called the Lincoln County process) right after it comes out of the still before it gets put into the barrel. Gentleman Jack gets a secondary filtration after it comes out of the barrel and is on it’s way to being bottled. The purpose is to remove any additional impurities, decrease the oakiness and further mellow and sweeten the whiskey. The result is quite noticeable.
Tasted side by side I like the Gentleman a bit more than Old No. 7. It is cleaner, it’s smoother, there is less rawness to it and the sweet bourbon like notes (which it technically is) come out more. However all of this refinement comes at a cost and part of that cost is excitement. It’s a little boring and I’m missing some of that rough charred character that comes in JD 7 to help balance out the intensely sweet notes in this bottle. Then there’s the actual monetary cost. At about 2x the price of regular Jack it’s just not worth it to me and there is a slew of whiskey I’d rather buy for the same price or even less.
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