Review: Jack Daniel's Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 Might Be The New Pappy Van Winkle

Autumn is here, and with it comes a new special-release whiskey from Jack Daniel's. Not that we're complaining about Jack Daniel's Twice-Barreled Heritage Rye of 2023, but the new installment of Coy Hill High Proof is more than welcome with its cask-strength, single-barrel return. When Jack Daniel's introduced its 2021-edition Coy Hill as the highest-proof whiskey that the distillery had ever released, it made an instant splash, and bottles of it spiraled in price on shelves and in aftermarket speculation. This is with very good reason, as the taste test of the 2024 Coy Hill will reveal.

We see a lot of distilleries put out special releases during the fall season, providing ample time to do some holiday shopping for the lovers of spirits in your life. Even so, Coy Hill bottles are something special amid everything special. The line sticks a hard-to-land combination of high quality, high ABV, and high age statement. Each iteration of Coy Hill brings something new and great, and this is especially true for 2024's Barrelhouse 8 release.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

As the fourth offering of the annual Jack Daniel's series of special-release whiskeys, the groundbreaking 2021 Coy Hill High Proof was a single-barrel, cask-strength whiskey that became something of its own phenomenon. Following 2022's Small Batch Coy Hill edition being offered as a blend, this year's Coy Hill expression is once again a single-barrel specialty. This whiskey was aged in charred American white oak casks since 2013 on the fifth and sixth floors of Barrelhouse 8, situated atop titular Coy Hill at the highest elevation of the Jack Daniel's distillery grounds.  

My review sample of Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 was 134.7 proof, but this year's lineup offers proofs ranging from 122 to 137.5, depending on which barrel each bottle happens to be drawn from. For comparison, the 2021 Single Barrel Coy Hill High Proof started at 137.4 proof, and ended at 148.3.

Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 is reportedly being released at a suggested price of $80, but as is so often the case with whiskey these days, the prices of special releases soar after crossing from retail shelves to the secondary market. Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 is already pulling $200 on Cask Cartel, where it's now sold out, and will likely re-emerge closer to the rest of the Coy Hill lineup in the range of $1,300 to $6,000, including bottles half the size of the 750-milliliter 2024 edition. With that in mind, if you can find Barrelhouse 8 on sale for a few hundred bucks, you're still doing great. Trust me, if any whiskey is worth three figures, this one is it. 

This suggested retail price is right in line with the modest initial costs of similar Jack Daniel's special releases we've seen. The 2021 Coy Hill single barrel is recorded as originally selling for $70, while the 2022 was an apparent steal at $55 for a 375 milliliter bottle. Both expressions are high-price aftermarket purchases now. And, as 2023's Jack Daniel's 12-Year predictably blew up, you'd be right to expect more of the same for Barrelhouse 8, a success story in a bottle 11 years in the making. Basically, it's going to be hard to find this new release, and the price is guaranteed to climb — but its real value is in the drinking.

Given how we recently learned about the intricate steps required for the Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2024 edition to reach 12 years without getting too dry and bitter, it's an achievement whenever a distiller in the climate of Kentucky or Tennessee can reach a desirable higher-age statement — and doubly so when it's in a barrelhouse exposed to temperature extremes and volatility. While there are a lot of terrific 12-year bourbons out there from these climes, they tend to be moved into mellower storage conditions. Aging Jack Daniel's upwards of 10 years in the most exposed position of a barrelhouse is a real testament to what can be achieved by the Lincoln County process — the step that makes Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey different — when expert hands prep distillate for maturation. 

This 2024 Coy Hill expression carries forward an exciting recurring release, as part of the Jack Daniel's initiative to expand upon its success without stagnating. The brand's very deliberate move to put out new and intriguing experiments has really racked up successes that feel like they only go forward when they pay off, and the hits just keep on coming. Naysayers (like, I'll confess, yours truly) have really been compelled to admit that these days, Jack goes beyond operating a capable basic brand to becoming one of the innovators. 

The bouquet of Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 is all strawberry and wheat, with a touch of corn silk. Despite its overdrive ABV, you wouldn't know it from your nose. A quick pour with scarcely any sitting is mysteriously devoid of any ethanol burn. Curious, yet admirable.

Tasting it, even just a drop blooms brilliantly on the tongue. Although the nose lacks any punch, you're definitely going to be aware of the high ABV at this stage. But given the proof, it's a success just how lightly this whiskey kicks. After that initial bump to the taste buds, Barrelhouse 8 is smooth and rich, with lots of fruit, a touch of grain, and very minimal oak for anything this old. Caramel and cinnamon dance around one another throughout. Dilute it enough (sorry, I had to for review purposes), and you'll swear there's an Oreo flavor on the finish. Witnesses to my tasting strained their eyes from rolling them too many times after my dozenth unprompted exclamation of "Wow! That's ... that's just really something different. Really, really primo stuff." The fact that it contains much alcohol but spares the tongue from scorching is marvelous.

Barrelhouse 8 is a remarkable success that showcases exactly why each Coy Hill bottling remains in demand, even beyond the longstanding enthusiasm for Jack Daniel's and the overall whiskey explosion. At the risk of drawing a mighty tall comparison, look out, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Coy Hill is equally staggering. 

It's worth buying and worth trying. Given the fantastic markup on Coy Hill bottles in just a couple short years, if you can get your hands on Barrelhouse 8, you may be tempted to keep it for speculative purposes. Don't do it! 

Jack Daniel's went well out of its way to make this release accessible to the people, and those exorbitant aftermarket prices actually only reflect a couple types of collectors: speculators and discerning drinkers hunting for their must-haves. If you're lucky enough to catch a bottle of Barrelhouse 8 for anything within reasonable range of its MSRP, find a friend for life and crack it open during your earliest celebration.

I get it. You could keep this bottle on the top shelf and watch your investment grow — but in a world full of schemers, don't you want to just live? All value is relative, and this is one of the finest whiskeys I've ever sampled. While I can think of a couple bottles I'd enjoy more, 2024's Barrelhouse 8 is an all-around triumph that is best enjoyed and appreciated before its aftermarket price tag makes it prohibitive to actually open and savor it. I've enjoyed enough Pappy Van Winkle to hazard that Coy Hill could beat most expressions of the former in a blind taste test, and the future value of Barrelhouse 8 is less inclined to soar quite so high as to warrant missing out on tasting it now. Drink the damn whiskey.