LOL jk. tastes like bourbon!

I have a bottle of Kelt Tour du Monde congnac that has the same effect added. Barrels left topside on a ship that take a 3 month (mostly circumnavigation) trip at sea. They cklaim that allows the barrels to breathe and take on different flavors and aromas. Meh. IMHO its a marketing gimmick.

I was expecting a note of pirate sweat in there. I have a bottle, but probably will not open it. Not a big Jefferson fan.

I'll give it a shot. I've certainly made worse mistakes for more way more than $70, but those mistakes are why I need bourbon in the first place.

I'll take that bottle off your hands tx4guns. I happen to really like Jefferson.

Anyone in the market for a Booker's 25th Anniversary?

Jeffersons Ocean is probably compared to a $15 bourbon with the addition of salt...

Is Bookers 25th any different than regular Bookers?

What's the mouthfeel like? Is it hot!!!? Are there notes of plums and cherries?

Bookers 25th contains juice 10+ years old while regular bookers is 6-8 years old.

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Jeffersons Ocean is probably compared to a $15 bourbon with the addition of salt...

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I know a lot of it is marketing, but you are being a tad on the harsh side here, at least compared to pretty much every review out there on it.

Jefferson's is decidedly above a $15 bourbon.

Okay, what makes you think it's more than a $15 bourbon? It's sourced whiskey aged about 6 years and watered down to a barely legal proof. And to think putting it on a boat for a few months makes it better is a gimmick.

I've had Jefferson's Reserve, and thought it was overpriced at $25. Never again. I know they have some higher priced bourbons that are well received, but I'm loathe to try them after my first experience.

Yes it's sourced whiskey. Seems like half of the whiskey these days is as well. Why that is somehow a knock, I'll not know.

You cannot honestly say that a glass of Jefferson's is anywhere comparable to a glass of Old Crow or some other true low grade whiskey.

Simply because the bourbon doesn't have the kick you particularly like doesn't mean it's cheap crap. There are several bourbons on here that are raved about that, to me are underwhelming and not worth the price as well. Four Roses is one of them (not the 125, that's some good shiz right there, but their regular small batch and single barrel).

Does that make it a $15 whiskey? Nope, just means it doesn't blow my skirt up. Nothing more, nothing less.

Late to the party but Michter Rye is fast becoming one of my favorite rye whiskers.

Nice thing about bourbon is that there are tons of flavor profiles and you can find something that suits your palate. I prefer the FRSmB to the FRSB even though its $10 cheaper. I cant stand Woodford at all at any price. For whatever reason, stuff from BT (whether its ER at one end to the various BTAC concoctions at the other to sourced juice they produce like Rock Hill Farms) suits my taste buds best.

When did I say it was cheap crap? There are several bourbons out there in the $12-$19 range that are good value pours, Old Crow is not one of them. For instance, EW 1783, WSR, VOB, OGD 114 are all solid pours and none of those are "sourced". If they were asking $70/bottle they would all be passed on.

And I have 10x more respect for bottlers who disclose where they sourced the whiskey the put in each bottle.

Sorry, but I took your comment that "it's a $15 bottle with some salt" as implying that you think it's pretty low grade/overpriced bourbon in general. Maybe that's not what you wanted or meant to state, but that's the way it reads anyway.

Because when I see a $15 bottle of bourbon, I'm generally thinking it's bottom shelf crap that you'd use to mix in coke, and you'd have to be pretty heavy on the coke end.

I don't think where a bottler sources their whiskey from is really all that important. What the whiskey tastes like is what is important. Knowing who's juice it is has pretty much zero bearing on the flavor.

Knowing where the juice was sourced has close to 90% influence on the flavor. All mash bills are different between distilleries. For instance, a rye whiskey can have 51% or 95% rye in the Mashbill, big difference. Hence, knowing if it's a LDI/MGP sourced rye, it will be the 95% rye where as if the whiskey was sourced with the Old Overholt Mashbill, it would be 51% rye (I think).

My question is for the bottlers who are not disclosing where the whiskey was sourced from, what are you hiding??

I don't understand how knowing where the juice is from actually influences the flavor. Mentally I'm sure it does, because people operate that way in a great number of things.

But that is all it is - mental. The flavor is the flavor. If knowing where the juice is from influences the flavor, you are going in with a prejudice (good or bad) before hand anyway and have just about made up your mind as to how good/bad it is.

And why is it that they must automatically be hiding something because they make a choice, or have an agreement, to not reveal who distills the juice?

Any JPS 25 year reviews? I found several bottles today.

I like to know what I am paying for besides a pretty label, especially if charging premium prices. Simple as that. If you like mystery juice, then so be it. There are plenty of other bottlers being more transparent and I chose to go that route. But $70 for a gimmick, I will pass all day long. But I stand behind my statement that Jefferson is using $15 whiskey for the Ocean project. Go to Specs and buy it up, it's just sitting on the shelf waiting for you. Send me a sample and I will give you my half educated assessment. I might even send you some good whiskey in return...

I have a bottle of JPS 25 bourbon and JPS 25 Rye. Both are pretty good; the Rye is better. Neither are worth the price. I will take WLW or Handy over those any day of the week.

I opened up the Jefferson's Ocean tonight. I'm a fan. The nose is salty for sure, but the taste profile is like a tinge of salted caramel candy, then the bourbon flavor hits. Different, but good. Not worth the $75, but I'm glad I have a bottle to try.

Next up I've got some 25th anniversary Booker's and some Barterhouse 20 year to try, so looking forward to those.

Just got a shipment of duty free Jack Daniels single barrel here in Israel. Going to put it up next to the four roses single barrel I brought back from the states. Will let you know the results tomorrow. The FRSB is very good for the money. I am used to drinking Buffalo Trace lately and this is noticably better.

JDs has such a distictive flavor profile that I have a hard time comparing it to anything else.

JD is not bourbon!

JD is Whiskey, not bourbon.

JD tastes like bananas.

The Four Roses is better. Much smoother. The Jack is single barrel so it should be pretty good stuff right?

Single barrel doesn't always equate to better, often just different since its not blended.

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The current SA bottlings are in house. The 7+ year stuff is sourced. The comparison to Willett is pretty fair.

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They are similar in that they both source their whiskey, and are currently distilling their own for future use. I have a lot more respect for Smooth Ambler, because they are much more open about what they are doing. They use the actual name of the "Old Scout" line to denote it is sourced whiskey they have "scouted". I believe they started selling a small amount of their own product under the "Yearling" label, but that is only a fraction of their current bottling. They are currently aging their own product, but the vast majority of Smooth Amblers current bottlings are sourced. I would gladly pay them top dollar for that sourced product, because they have picked some amazing barrels. Its just a shame they don't distribute in Texas. I would have to buy a barrel, have it bottled and shipped to a retailer in one of their distribution states, and then still need to have it illegally shipped to Texas.

Willett sources come good stuff, but they are a little shadier about it. They are much more reluctant to tell you where they source it from, and right now they aren't even bottling the barrels various bars and retailers have selected and committed to buying. I wouldn't really trust anything they say, and can't rely on them for a consistent product. Unless you can get a review of a specific barrel number, its really a crap shoot. Unless I see a "Bilbo Baggins x yr old" selection, and can get tasting notes from Bilbo, I'll pass on Willett.

I have no problem with sourced products, but I like to know where it came from, and I need to be able to know I am getting a consistent product. Smooth Ambler and Willett do many of the same things, but in completely different ways.

Technically, JDs is not bourbon, but only because they charcoal filter it. Without this step in their process, it would be bourbon. JDs, years ago, decided to distinguish themselves as Tennessee Whiskey.

I hear JD Silver Select is a solid pour, but I think it's an export bottling?