My father handed me an empty bottle of bourbon. Which is a sentence that could start out saying I had a rough childhood, but isn’t. Please don’t infer that. My parents are amazing and I had a privileged life.
So my father hands me an empty bourbon bottle and says “If you can ever find me this, I’ll take it. Loved it, and had to keep the bottle to remember.”
Ignoring my father not taking a picture with his phone and instead holding onto an empty bottle, what he handed me was Jefferson’s Ocean Aged at Sea KWM Single Barrel. Well, he handed me a different one, but I immediately looked into what I could find and obtained one from a friend traveling back from Alberta for his birthday.
What is it? Originally a small experiment, where the company put three casks on a friend’s boat to see the difference of aging. It could have been nothing: It could be the same when a tornado ripped off the roof of E.H. Taylor. Everyone’s going for a thing.
Instead they ended up with a darker, more complex whiskey, and kept making it over and over. And until my father gave me an easy gift idea, I wasn’t going to give it the time of day. But I’m not going to shoot down a recommendation, least of all from the man who helped make me who I am.
So let’s see how it is, shall we?
Price: $122.99 CAD
Region: Kentucky
Voyage: 17
Batch: 746
Bottle No. 62
Abv: 45%
Colour: 10YR 7/10
Nose: Candied fruit, cotton, sweet corn, mineral, pineapple
So there’s some corn and some vegetal/floral notes of cotton that I’ve found in other bourbons, but the main event is sweet fruit notes and nice minerality. A big surprise honestly.
Acidity, sweet, and salty. Good balance on the nose.
Taste: Butter, corn, wheat, cloves, raisin, plum
Okay, closer to a typical bourbon profile: Butter, corn, some cereal/wheat. However the spice and fruit is still there. It’s reminding me of the previous ex-wine cask I had, which may be the specific whiskey they make instead.
Finish: Cotton, honey, wheat, mineral, cherry
Finish is the most like other bourbons. It’s dry, cereal, and a bit of fruit. It’s a bit simpler and it’s reaching to be a bit more, though it doesn’t quite hit the landing.
Conclusion: Subtle, fruity, floral. Love the nose, the rest is not really living up to it. The taste and finish fall back into regular hits. All in all I think this is worth what it is: A unique bourbon that has some nice flavours. And given comparative bourbons out there, and the fact you can actually buy this without having to sell various body parts, I can see why people have it on their top shelf.
77/100
Bourbon review #268, Kentucky review #174, Whisky Network review #2009
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