‘This Is the Best Rye Whiskey We’ve Ever Done’: Master Distiller Chris Fletcher Goes Deep on Tanyard Hill

This article is a part of The Daily Pour’s Whiskey Week Coverage! from Nov. 17-21, we’re diving deep on all things whiskey. Click here to check out our Whiskey Week coverage.

When Jack Daniel’s first launched its Coy Hill Rye Whiskey in 2021, it set off a wave of enthusiasm for single-rickhouse releases. Fans waited in lines, hunted online and did everything they could to get their hands on a bottle of whiskey exclusively aged in a single warehouse on Jack Daniel’s’ sprawling campus. Today, that bottle sells for an average price of upwards of $900, according to Wine-Searcher.

So, when we got word last month that the Tennessee whiskey distillery was releasing a brand new single-rickhouse expression, Tanyard Hill, the whiskey world was abuzz, eager to know more. Drawn from a neighboring warehouse built in the early 1960s, Tanyard Hill is the distillery’s latest high-proof experiment in flavor — and Master Distiller Chris Fletcher believes it turned out spectacularly.

“I think this is the best rye whiskey we have ever done here. I really do,” Fletcher told us.

Fletcher says he’s been interested in releasing single-rickhouse expressions for years, but not everyone was on board with the idea — until the smash hit that was Coy hill.

“For the longest time, I thought it would be really, really cool if we were looking at single barrels that come from these different [ware]houses,” he said. “And I’ve been trying to convince my friends in the marketing world … years ago, how I thought it would be interesting to start telling the story of these different barrelhouses. And nobody really liked that idea, until we released Coy Hill.”

Tanyard Hill rye came from barrelhouse 101, a rickhouse built on Tanyard Hill with a similar climate profile to the Coy Hill warehouses.

That vision took root years before Coy Hill launched. By the time those first single-rickhouse barrels from Coy Hill were bottled, Fletcher had already set aside rye aging in the upper floors of 101, noting their potential to show just how far a barrel’s location could push the spirit.

Jack Daniel’s classic rye mashbill — 70% rye, 18% corn, 12% malted barley — forms the base, but the whiskey’s identity comes from its location. On Tanyard Hill, dramatic seasonal shifts cause the whiskey to sink deep into the oak staves that form the barrels used for aging, while evaporation from the heat steals away a portion of the aging spirit, resulting in dramatic proof points.

Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Chris Fletcher guides a tasting of the new Tanyard Hill rye whiskey.

As Fletcher puts it, “This is all about taking what is already a phenomenal single-barrel rye product and pushing it as far as we can.”

The result is bottled at barrel proof, ranging from 130.2 all the way up to 148.8 proof. Each barrel offers its own nuance. “136 [proof] is going to taste a heck of a lot different than your 145,” Fletcher notes. “But that’s the fun of it. That’s the fun of single-barrel whiskeys. That’s why I love them.”

Fans can expect a range of experiences across bottles, from sweet and creamy profiles to deep, robust, spice-forward pours. Fletcher admits his own sweet spot lands in the mid-130s, a level where he finds “sweet up front, then it just fills in the back — it’s just warm barrel-proof rye whiskey.”

But everyone’s palate is different. We tasted the expression at both 136 and 145.9 proof and found that while both were incredible, we preferred the higher-ABV version. Check out our review of it here.

Fletcher sees these single-rickhouse releases as more than limited-edition curiosities; they’re storytelling tools for one of the world’s best-selling whiskey brands.

“What we’ve set out to do around our Special Release Single Barrel is to start telling the story of the diversity of warehousing that we have here in Lynchburg,” he says. “Over 2,000 acres, 96 barrelhouses.”

Coy Hill opened that door, Tanyard Hill widened it, and future releases will continue on through. After all, with the success of Coy Hill and the early rave reviews Tanyard Hill has fetched, why would Jack Daniel’s stop here? Fletcher hints that future releases may highlight rickhouses from warehouses across many orners of the sprawling Lynchburg property.

“We are consciously looking at different houses, different locations,” he said. “Because if we can get 30, 40, 50 barrels that have a couple gallons of whiskey in them right now, we can create some really cool batches out of that. That’s typically where you’re going to find those really big proofs. The high proofs correlate to evaporation — it’s just physics.”

Fletcher doesn’t shy away from comparisons to Coy Hill, but he sees Tanyard Hill as a statement of its own — backed up by his statement of belief that this is the best Jack Daniel’s rye whiskey ever.

For collectors and rye enthusiasts alike, it’s a clear invitation: if you’re into high proof, high character and high intensity, Tanyard Hill Rye is as deep into Lynchburg as it gets.