LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — On Veterans Day, Jack Daniel’s sent a new whiskey out into the world to honor the men and women who served. The man who picked it spends his workdays in the barrelhouses right here in Lynchburg.

Jason Bobo, a U.S. Army veteran and warehousing foreman at the Jack Daniel Distillery, selected the 2026 Jack Daniel’s Heroes Selection, a Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Rye Whiskey released today. The distillery calls the annual series a whiskey “selected by heroes, for heroes.”

Bobo says being chosen to select this year’s bottle in the honor of a lifetime.

“The fact that I was chosen for this year’s Heroes Selection that represents both Jack Daniel’s and my fellow veterans is beyong anything I could have imagined,” he says. “To say that it is an honor and privilege is an understatement.”

Bobo served eight years in the Army, with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He came to work at the distillery in 2011, and 15 years later he’s a foreman in warehousing, the part of the operation where the whiskey spends its years in the barrel. This year, one of those barrels was his to choose.

“Veterans like Jason play a critical role crafting our Tennessee Whiskey throughout the year, and he’s made a strong selection for this year’s release that is certainly worthy of his fellow service members,” said Chris Fletcher, Jack Daniel’s master distiller.

The whiskey starts with Jack Daniel’s classic Tennessee Rye mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn and 12% malted barley. It was distilled, charcoal mellowed and aged in new American white oak barrels on the highest floors of the barrelhouses in Lynchburg.

Because every barrel is its own animal, this year’s release was bottled at proofs between 125 and 134. Bobo’s pick opens soft and sweet, with apple and molasses on the nose, then turns spicy through a long middle and finishes with sweet smoke and cherrywood. Each bottle wears a military-inspired medallion and comes in a collectible gift box.

If you want one, don’t dawdle. Outside of select military retail locations, the only place to buy the 2026 Heroes Selection is the White Rabbit Bottle Shop at the distillery, and it’s there in limited quantities. A 750ml bottle has a suggested retail price of $69.99.

The Heroes Selection is one piece of the distillery’s longer-running support for service members. Since 2011, the same year Bobo hired on, Jack Daniel’s Operation Ride Home campaign has partnered with the Armed Services YMCA to raise more than $4.65 million, helping more than 16,000 junior-enlisted service members and military families get home for the holidays.

This year, the bottle that honors them was chosen by a veteran who works just up the road.•

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