On the palate, its 100 proof delivers satisfying spice and tingle while staying supple and enjoyable neat. Toasted oak is prominent, but not in the heavy-handed, newly sawn lumber way of many toasted barrels that dominate the maturate resting within them.

It's big on the palate without being a brute; as in none of the Coy Hill muscle or heat. I like those, too, but they have their place, and there's no place for that in this mature, balanced and well-mannered Tennessee whiskey.

But there's a lot more going on, and much of it is packed into that aforementioned density: bitter cocoa, huge allspice aroma, rickhouse and freshly dumped barrels. A glass of this could open up continually and reveal itself further easily for an hour.

The 12-year is a whiskey of tremendous complexity, character and texture, and the 10-year (review forthcoming) is barely less arresting. This Jack is mannerly, wizened, confident and worthy of standing alongside any American whiskey on a back bar.