Jefferson's Ocean Aged At Sea Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Very Small Batch

To make this batch of Jefferson’s Ocean Trey Zoeller, Jefferson’s Master Blender, sourced 62 barrels of bourbon aged 6-8 years and then put them on a container ship for 6 months where the barrels rocked and sloshed across the oceans stopping at a total of 31 ports and making their way across the equator four times. The theory is that this constant movement of the liquid in the barrels ages (matures) the whiskey faster because more of the liquid is in contact with the wood more often.

This starts out with a healthy dose of bourbon spice followed by rich caramel and vanilla. Brown sugar, dark fruit (cherries in particular), orange zest, dark honey and oak. The aromas are sharp, rich and sweet. Bourbon spice and dark fruit are neck and neck coming onto the palate with caramel behind by an inch. Cinnamon pops and cherries float in and out and the oak sits like a support beam under the whole flavor profile. There is some vanilla, but it comes across as imitation vanilla and then there’s the salt. There is some salty brininess there as well