The Jack Daniel's Taste test items

The charcoal is now ready for the mellowing proces. At the distillery they got to taste the whiskey to see if it meets the standard they want for that kind of whiskey (green or black label). For special occasions they let vistors (VIP's...) taste the difference between the before and after charcoal mellowing whiskey. For this purpose they also bottled a few samples, but are only used in de distillery and are not made for sale. Now for a real collector these bottles are off course placed very high on there wanted list....
I got ten different samples (sealed !! ) of full and sealed bottles that are used for these taste test sessions on the distillery. Not to mention that these bottles are very rare.

I want to start this page with a gift set from end 50-ties begin 60-ties. Collectors that have visited the distillery before 1998 problebly have seen a sample of this gift set in the visitors center in a display barrel. This was for me the first time I had seen this great set. I didn't know what it was and I really thought it was a book! Well... it's not....

Inside this cardboard box you will find a set of Taste test miniature bottles (1/10 pint size) and a standard black label miniature bottle. The sample I got in my collection is in 100 % MINT condition and it includes the outer (brown) cardboard box to protect the "book cover". Please look below for close-up pictures of the taste test miniature bottles

The miniature black label bottle has a nice "5 years old whiskey" label on the front. Bottle is sealed with paper eagle seal and a green colored plastic seal. Estimate value of this item? I really don't know.. I've been offered $ 1200.00 for it... But I still got it.

The first taste test bottles you see below are the once used in 1964, half pint flask bottles. Both full and sealed with an eagle paper seal. One of the bottles still has the green plastic seal "left-overs" on it...

Perfect Eagle paper seal. The After charcoal melowing bottle has still got some left overs from the plastic seal that was over the other seal...

Close up pictures of the front and the back side labels. The labels are white and not yellow like in the picture... the yellow color is from the sunlight that was there when I shot the pictures...


The front label	The front label

The back side label	The back side label

The bottom of one of the taste test bottle.

1/10 pint miniature bottles (I)

These two are a real nice set of taste test bottles. One of my favortites! Sealed with the "less than 1/2 pint" paper seal and the green see tru seal they used before the 70-ties.

1/10 pint miniature bottles (II)

Just when you thought you had seen them all I found me another set of miniatures that is even older than the once above! This set is from the "Treasure gift pack" from end 50-ties begin 60-ties. Labels on the miniature bottle are different. Again... TOP items and absolute rare find...

500 ml flask bottle

Also full and sealed are these two 500 ml size flasks. These are transistion bottles and got both the matrix/volume on the bottom embossed (500 ml and 16.9 OZ). Estimate date would be around the early 80-ties.

Paper and green cello sealed.

200 ml flask bottle

This is a 200ml size flask version of a after charcoal mellowing bottle. Still full and sealed! It's a "transition bottle". This means that on the bottom the two different volumes are embossed, 200 ml and 6,8 Oz.

front label back label

375 ml square bottles

The more famous bottles below. Sold a lot on Ebay last year but they are still a rare item! (estimate value over $ 120.00 a bottle). These bottles are never sold to the general publick.... Here are the Fake sealed before and after bottles:

Fake sealed... Plastic sealed...

Both bottle bottoms, the fake sealed are from 1994 and the plastic sealed from 1998.

750 ml square bottles

The 750 ml size bottles... This is a very rare size of Taste test bottles. I have been told that there are only 2 sets made! I also know who has got that other set. I took me a half year to get them but Man I am a happy collector with these two gems in my collection. Check it out.

bottom of both 750 ml bottles.

Back side of front label:

This must be the most odd Taste test item there is! Jack Daniels Sniff-test paks! Hehe now you can snif the difference between before and after charcoal melowing!

Sniff-Test box

Below you see one of the most rarest item I got in my collection. Thanks to this great collector Roy from Tempa, Florida who made this set complete for me. They are Before & After Sniff Test Capsules covered by a cotton sack. The capsule are plastic. You have to break a capsule to smell the diferance between the before and after charcoal mellowing. The boxes are thin paperboard.

One of the most rarest item I got from Jack Daniel's is this great "Official Taste Test Suitcase" full with the ingredients, taste test items and some folders. Not for sale off course, but someone in Spain, Europe didn't need it and sold it to me. (To the people at the distillery.... it is NOT stolen! but given by someone from Brown and Forman).

It is a Huge, good quality hand bag filled with 5 little jars with ingredients, 3 plastic bags full with the plastic taste test glasses, a big chunk of a used barrel. And last but not least 50 folders. The Bottles you see on the picture where not inside the bag, but there are pockets made to carry them in....

Here are the jars: Corn, Rye and Barley Malt, Charcoal, Springwater and my self made "Sour mash" jar.

Corn

As you know it's pretty tuff to get a sample of the sour mash... so what did I do to get it?? Well as you problebly know once they used the mash most of it will go to the cows as cow-food. So I tracked the place where they feed these cows and "stole" it from them!
You do NOT want to know how bad the smell of "used" sour mash is... It's smells exact like it looks like... Below you see one of the trucks that transport the sour mash from the distillery to the farmers that use it to feed there cows.

The next piece of barrel wood is sold by the Hardware and General store in Lynchburg, TN. After the Whiskey is distilled is will rest for 7 years in oak barrels. This is a stick from a used barrel. You can see at the close up the burning from the wood. This give the whiskey extra rich taste. The whiskey will go in and out of the barrel sucking up the sugar that is left in the wood.

I also got a Taste Test wooden case for a Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Taste test! Use this link to go to the Single Barrel page

To taste the whiskey they used to use these plastic glasses. No.1 is before charcoal mellowing and the No.2 glass is after charcoal mellowing and the No.3 is filled with 90 % proof black label whiskey. These are original used, 90 % proof glasses!

Below are some pictures of 86 % proof taste test glasses that came with the Tast test suitcase. Slightly different print.

This is the last plastic taste glass I got. It got 3 different prints all around the glass, the Old. no. 7, the Single barrel and the gentleman Jack logo's.

These glasses (plastic or glass) are also never sold to the public. Very Rare!
But uh .... As you have seen on the pictures above I still got some 86 % proof plastic glasses left.... Interested in a set?

During our vacation in Tennessee last october (2001) I had the change (of a live time!) to experience the Taste Test my self! With my best friend Uncle Willie, lovely Irene Matthews (Administrative assistance at Jack Daniel's) and our bud Phil we where invited to do the test at the distillery. We tasted the Before and After Charcoal mellowing, the regular Jack Daniel's, the Gentleman Jack and the Single Barrel whiskey.
Back in 2001 a taste test process/day was only for VIP's and not for "normal" people like you and me, this made it a very, very rare experiance! Why me? Keep it on all the luck of the world!
Now a days it's more common and taste tests are taken pretty often (even with large groups) but are still considered as rare.

Here are a couple of shots from that day.

sniving, listning to the stories and than ... tasting!

Mr Joseph Rossman on the left picture. On the right me, Willie and Irene. enjoying Mr. Jack's stuff !

This paper sheet was used that day. On it the five glasses where displayed. I told you, I saved my years luck just for this week in Tennessee....

On these four pictures you see empty, but sealed bottles. These are test bottles they problebly used for the seal machine.
If you look at the bottle tru sun light you see that it's not a smooth surface, but it got flaws in the middle. The bottles are problebly diapproved. (nice collectables...)

The bottle above is also a test bottle, but so far, I do not know what the purpose was of the black and white painting on the bottles neck. There are little stripes in it and on the bottle is a paper that has some numbers written on it.
If anybody knows what that means, please let me know so we can share it with the other collectors. It's a 750ml with a screw top. I sold this bottle to Ian Wallace and he told me the bottle was used to measure the winter and summer amount of whiskey that was used during filling these bottles.