2006 Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Brand Green Label Tennessee Whiskey 750ml

This 2006 bottling of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Brand Green Label is an 80 proof (40% ABV) Tennessee Whiskey with no age statement, produced at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee. Green Label was the quiet member of the Old No. 7 family — never given the marketing weight of Black Label and carried in only about half of US states — which is why a dated example from the middle of its run is worth keeping intact.

The whiskey itself starts where every Old No. 7 does. The grain bill runs to corn with smaller proportions of rye and malted barley, and the new spirit is filtered through ten feet of sugar maple charcoal before it ever touches a barrel — the Lincoln County Process, the step that legally separates Tennessee whiskey from bourbon. What set Green Label apart came afterward, in the barrelhouse: its barrels were drawn from the ground floor, where the temperature swings far less across the seasons and the wood works on the whiskey more gently. The result is a paler pour with a lighter oak signature than Black Label from the upper floors.

Timing gives a 2006 bottle a specific character within the brand's history. Brown-Forman finished reducing Old No. 7 Black Label from 86 proof to 80 proof in 2004, phasing the change in quietly across states and export markets. By the time this bottle was filled, Black and Green stood at identical strength, and the only thing separating them was where their barrels had rested. For most of Green Label's life that had not been true — it had been the lower-proof option as well as the lighter one.

The man responsible was Jimmy Bedford, who served as Jack Daniel's master distiller from 1988 to 2007 and signed off on every barrel that went into bottles like this one. He was the sixth person to hold the job at a distillery that has been registered since 1866, the first registered distillery in the United States.

For collectors, dated Green Label bottles are how the full Jack Daniel's label family gets assembled. Production has long since moved on, label artwork shifted across the years, and a bottle that can be placed to a specific year carries more information than an undated one. This is a piece of the Old No. 7 story that most drinkers never encountered on a shelf.

• Size: 750ml
• Proof: 80 Proof (40% ABV)
• Origin: Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee, USA
• Distillery: Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee (Brown-Forman)
• Whiskey Type: Tennessee Whiskey, charcoal mellowed via the Lincoln County Process
• Mash Bill: 80% corn, 12% rye, 8% malted barley
• Bottling: 2006 bottling of the Old No. 7 Green Label expression
• Series: Old No. 7 Brand — Green Label
• Master Distiller: Jimmy Bedford (master distiller 1988–2007)
• Presentation: Green Label livery; distribution historically limited to roughly half of US states