The American Forest Series is Jack Daniel's experimental playground for the trees that grow on the United States' own soil — the idea being that American whiskey ought to be aged in American wood, and that wood does not begin and end at white oak. Cherry Wood is the opening chapter, and it is a striking one. The whiskey is mellowed through sugar maple charcoal in the usual Lincoln County fashion, matured in the standard charred oak, and then allowed to spend time in contact with toasted American cherry wood inserts before bottling.
The bottle strength is generous — a step up from the standard Old No. 7 — and it shows. There is muscle here, and the cherry wood is not a shy guest. It pushes a deep, almost liqueur-like cherry note into the spirit, the kind of dark, slightly bitter fruit you find in a good black forest gateau. Underneath, the Jack Daniel's DNA is intact: banana, vanilla, soft char, that signature mellowed sweetness.
What makes it interesting beyond the novelty is how the cherry wood interacts with the maple-charcoal mellowing. The two woods are conversation partners. The maple has already softened the spirit's edges, and the cherry layers a fruit-cake richness over the top without making the whole thing cloying. There is marzipan, a touch of cocoa, and a long, resinous finish that recalls a freshly planed cherry plank.
This is a sipper, and a curiosity-seeker's bottle. Pour it neat, give it ten minutes in the glass, and let the toasted-wood aromatics build. It is Jack Daniel's stepping outside the rickhouse and into the forest, and the experiment is well worth following.
