By Tabitha Evans Moore, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG — Like winning a college football bet or enjoying the gallop of a souped up 1969 Camaro, there’s something about drinking my whiskey neat that brings out my more masculine side. Sure, I may order it wearing three-inch heels and my favorite Stevie Nick t-shirt, but it gets my testosterone flowing.   

Plus, I’m a Lynchburg native and self-described Whiskey Gal. The thought of mixing even traditional Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 with syrupy cola just doesn’t sit right with me. It is a lesson that former Master Distiller Jimmy Bedford taught me one night over dinner.

As the waiter approached and asked for our drink order, I held visions of a margarita or maybe a dirty martini. Instead, Jimmy looked at me and asked, “May I?”

“Sure,” I answered a bit amused.

“She’ll have a Gentleman Jack with a water back,” he told the server.

When it arrived, he explained that splashing the whiskey with water “uncoiled the serpent” as he put it, and then he walked me through the steps of tasting whiskey like a professional.

First, he instructed me to stick my nose in the glass and inhale the alcohol vapors before ever taking a sip. Then, he explained that it took at least three sips to properly taste whiskey.

“The first sip always covers your palate with ethanol,” he explained. “Never drink water in between your first three sips. You will just have to start over. The second sip is like running your hand over the top of a body of water. You can take its temperature and temperament. The third sip is where you dive in.”

I have been tasting and drinking my whiskey like this ever since.

So, when Jack Daniel’s invited me to taste their new Coy Hill Special Release with Master Distiller Chris Fletcher. I eagerly accepted and used this same modality.

The Lynchburg distillery released the new bottle earlier this month to the delight of both whiskey connoisseurs and collectors. Like its 2021 and 2022 predecessors, the newest iteration comes in varying proofs – though the 2024 version is far from the bombastic 150 proofs seen with the 2022 release.

Local whiskey makers bottle the Single Barrel Special Release Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 at proofs from 122 to 137.5. The bottle I tasted came in at the higher end at 134.7. Coy Hill special releases are popular with both locals and the global market. They carry a certain mystique.

What makes Coy Hill special?

That may have a little to do with the unique conditions under Coy Hill whiskeys get made.

There are five historic barrelhouses on Coy Hill located behind the original distillery’s footprint. They are the ones you see in promotional photos or sprinkled in the background when you visit the historic Lynchburg square. Until recently, Coy Hill would have been a name mostly recognized by locals, now it carries weight around the world. It is an idea not lost on Fletcher.

“I can still look up on these hills and see the same things that I saw when I was four years old. And so, yeah, maybe that is why I’m sentimental and biased to them,” Fletcher stated. “It is unbelievable the response to the first release. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that after the response we wanted to dig into Coy Hill and bring something different and complex to the market.”

The Coy Hill barrelhouses sit at the highest elevation at the distillery – meaning the upper floors experience the broadest temperature swings. Those swings force the whiskey in and out of the barrel. That process is what gives the Coy Hill Special Release its sweetness. The high temps also evaporate more water, which lends itself toward a higher proof.

Unlike the first release, which came from the “Buzzard’s Roost” or top floors of the Coy Hill barrel houses, the newest release came from 258 barrels from the fifth and sixth floors of Barrel House 108, which is why the whiskey’s top overall proof is lower. Some “proof hounds” may grumble at this, but to me, it makes the whiskey much more approachable. It is still a bold whiskey just not likely to burn your taste buds off.

The distillery placed the whiskey in Coy Hill 108 on September 4, 2013 and bottled it this August just shy of its eleventh birthday. This puts it in the same arena of another popular Jack Daniel’s product line – their age-stated whiskeys.

With only 5,000 cases available worldwide, the 2024 Coy Hill Special Release will be highly sought after.

The goal is complexity and balance

Fletcher says the goal of any whiskey made in The Holler is complexity and balance and their newest bottle delivers that in spades.

The first sniff fills your nose with ethanol and nods towards its higher proof. That’s what shines through to me on my first sip – the familiar burn of a charcoal-mellowed whiskey. You could blindfold me and I would still successfully pick it out of a line up.

Like every other bottle of Jack Daniel’s, the new Coy Hill bottle is 80 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and eight percent rye. It is the rye that shines through to me on my second sip. It tastes earthy and reminds me of how barrelhouses smelled to me as a child – slightly musty and dusty but in a good way.

As Fletcher talks about the logistics of Barrelhouse 108, I let the glass sit – knowing that the oxidation will open it up a bit.

“Track two warehouses sit down on a creek bed in a valley that never sees the extremities of heat and air flow that we know Coy Hill can get. They sit out in that open field and get pounded with sunlight morning to night,” Fletcher explains. “But up on Coy Hill, warehouse 108 sits in the far back corner. It’s tree-lined on two sides of it, and gets plenty of western sunlight as the sun sets. Also, typically our weather patterns do come west to east through Tennessee, and so it kind of faces in that direction, too.”

Fletcher says that combination of solid sunlight and “really good airflow” is what creates both the high proof and the complexity in the barrel.

In my third sip, I see what he means. You can taste the sweet char of the barrel. It comes across like caramelized brown sugar, or molasses to me with just a hint of fermented fruit like cherries or apples. The finish reminds me of the Candied Apples they serve down at Miss Mary Bobo’s or my grandmother gingerbread cookies.

As we finish, I ask Fletcher what his grandfather, Master Distiller #5 Frank Bobo, and Jack himself might have thought about the new Coy Hill Special Release.

“I can promise you at this level of proof, my granddad would be throwing some ice in there,” Fletcher jokes. “He was an on the rocks guy all the time. He also possessed more of a sweet tooth when it came to his whiskey. He really liked the fruity, sweeter barrels.”

“You know, Jack resisted putting whiskey in bottles. As I understand it from history, he sent people barrels of whiskey. So, I think he’d enjoy the barrel strength of this product,” Fletcher continued. “I also think he’d enjoy the nod to Coy Hill and our Lynchburg roots of making every drop right here in Lynchburg”

Weeks later, I purchased a bottle of Coy Hill Special Release Barrelhouse 8 for my private bar. It will not be my go-to on college football Saturdays – at least not in the regular season. It is a special, bold whiskey for special occasions – one that perfectly blends the tradition and innovation happening in my hometown. When folks come to visit, I cannot think of a better way to show them that despite its global appeal, the small batch ideas coming out of The Holler should be on any whiskey guy or whiskey gal’s bucket list.•

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