Jefferson's Reserve Old Rum Cask Finish

This is my official deep dive into Jefferson’s. Feel free to skip ahead to the tasting, because there are going to be a bunch of these cheesy intros, all copy/paste. ~~~~~~~~~~ Concept: I walk into a liquor store and see like a billion different Jefferson’s bottles, yet my knowledge of them is minimal. My perception is that I typically don’t care for their stuff, but somehow, before choosing to start this experiment, I already had six different Jefferson’s on my shelf. How did they invade my house? ~~~~~~~~~~ Methodology: Step 1: Jefferson’s Very Small Batch. Patient 0. Where it all started? Never had it, so a damn good place to start. This one was bought specifically for this experiment. Step 2: Jefferson’s VSB vs Jefferson’s Reserve (Very Old Very Small Batch). I already had this one. How did this get in my house? Step 3: Jefferson’s VSB vs Jefferson’s Ocean. Is it a gimmick? Again, how did this get in my house? Step 4: Jefferson’s Ocean standard vs Jefferson’s Ocean wheated mash bill. Repeat house question. Step 5: Finished Jefferson’s. I got rum, Sauternes, and Prichard Hill. Let’s do this. Step 6: Blind taste test with all 7. Hell, throw in Chef’s Collaboration. (Seriously, how?) So there’s 8. Can I pick them out based on steps 1-5? Are there any standout Jefferson’s expressions, or is it all marketing? The stakes are so low, the tension is palpable. ~~~~~~~~~~ Disclaimer: Starting this, I don’t much care for Jefferson’s in general. There’s this weird gummy-bear-ness that I can’t shake. Hoping to find my Jefferson’s product by the time this is over. ~~~~~~~~~~ Finished Jefferson’s , aka “Step 5” I’ve had and reviewed all these separately, so this is less of a tasting note and more of a value/quality comparison tasting for the Old Rum Cask Finish, the Prichard Hill Cabernet Cask Finish, and the Sauternes Cask Finish. For the rum finish: This was pretty low on my list when compared to other rum finishes, but here amongst its brothers, this bourbon stands tall. It’s my favorite of these three, and it’s not close. Comparing it to Blood Oath pact 5 and Borough (two truly unfair fights IMO) made me under-appreciate the things this whiskey does well. My prior rating of this guy was too low, so I’m fixing that here. This truly is a solid expression, and Jefferson’s did well. I will try to keep one of these around, provided it’s available at retail. Tasting notes: Nose has lemon, brine, salt, and faint jelly. Body expands on that jelly adding in sweet cherries. Finish has cinnamon, salt, pepper, and more brine. For the Prichard Hill: I don’t care for this one as much as I did before. I remember getting “almond extract fatigue” from tasting so many damn Cabernet finished whiskeys, and in that context, this was less offensive than some. Now, compared to other finishes, it’s subpar and substantially less enjoyable than the rum finish. It’s funny how relativistic your palate can be. When this bottle dies, I don’t think I will replace it. For the Sauternes finish: From my barrel finish experiment, I learned that Sauternes can be done exceedingly well (OMFG Boone County) and exceedingly poorly (Hillrock). This is somewhere in the middle. By itself, it’s interesting as a slow sipper. But if you go back and forth between this and anything less sickeningly sweet, this genuinely can make your mouth turn. This is tough to drink at times, and even tougher to find value in at its retail price point. Based on my Sauternes finish experiences, I can’t say that these negatives are unique to Jefferson’s, but they are present here. I will not buy this again, and I would politely turn down a free sip from a friend, unless there was nothing else available. ~~~~~~~~~~ One of my burning questions at the start of this was: “how did these end up on my shelf?” For these three, the answer is easy. I did a barrel-finished bracket a while back, and Jefferson’s conveniently managed to fill out a few brackets. And these three aren’t even the full list that are currently sitting at my liquor store. There’s another one, French Oak Cask Finish, that didn’t make the bracket. Regrettably unavailable to me was the Groth Cask Finish, which I’ve heard is amazing. Point is: Jefferson’s is in the conversation for most distinct entries into the barrel finished space, and their availability is remarkable. If your willing to pay up (comparatively speaking) you can find these little bastards everywhere. Overall, I’m impressed with Jefferson’s in this barrel finished space. They’re not the best; my current vote there is Bardstown. They’re not the biggest bang for your buck; I’d put Borough, Isaac Bowman, and Angel’s Envy all above Jefferson’s there. But Jefferson’s has its feelers out there in a bunch of different finishing styles, and I can already tell they’re going to get a few winners overall during their experimentation, this rum finish being one of them.

AND WHAT BE A PIRATE’S FAVORITE BARREL? Rum? AYE, YOU’D THINK THAT. BUT IT’S ACTUALLY FIRST FILL AMERICAN OAK THAT’S BEEN CHARRRRRRRRRRRED. This is the rum barrel finished bracket of my finished bourbon experiment. Tonight is a blind taste test between Jefferson’s Reserve Old Rum Cask Finish and Blood Oath Pact 5. Though I preferred the nose of Jefferson’s, BOP5 won out big on body and finish. I respect the way both drinks approached rum barrel finishing, and I think those approaches were different. BOP5 requires more discipline to really see what it has to offer than JR does, but if you put in the effort, there’s simply more reward there. Next blind taste test is between Borough and Barrel Dovetail (big thanks to Andrew-Nguyen1 for the Dovetail!) The tasting of Jefferson’s Reserve Old Rum Cask Finish: The nose is the best part of this drink. I could sniff this all day. I normally don’t care for this Jeffersoniness in my whiskey, but this is the best I’ve ever seen this scent profile done. There’s the grape jelly, but it doesn’t smell sickeningly sweet like it can. There a cherry sweetness there too. There’s a bitterness in the nose that balances. I get salt, lemon, brine. Body is an honest extension of the nose, but that overly sweet mouth feel is still there. Sweet grape jam and cherries dominate the body. Finish is where the saltiness and brine kick in. I think somewhere hidden in that transition is where I was detecting a bitter lemon scent, but the flavor isn’t detectable for me. I just recall the mixture of brine and sweetness doing that to my taste buds in the past. There’s chocolate there. I get leather, oak, baking spices too. Pick one = chocolate. I don’t hate this drink. It’s one of my favorite Jefferson’s to date because they dialed back that grape jelly nonsense a bit with the salt and brine. I think the rum influence also did some interesting stuff with the sweet body, almost creating a tropical vibe. Still, I’d put this more into the “interesting” category of drink than the “enjoyable” category. At this price, I definitely will not buy again.

This was an impulse purchase. I didn't know much about it, other than that I've generally had good experiences with other Jefferson's products in the past. So instead of a backstory, here are some stats: This bottle is from Batch 4, Bottle No. 03209. It's bottled at a Jefferson's standard 45.1% ABV and is, obviously, finished in rum casks for an unspecified length of time. Nose: Vanilla, toffee, caramel, brown sugar, and butterscotch. A bit of molasses and sugar cane imparted by the rum cask. Some cherry sweetness and cocoa. A bit of Some pumpkin spice, and very, very mild baking spice. Fairly standard bourbon nose with a slight rum twist. Palate: The molasses and sugar cane are out in full force here. The vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, caramel, and butterscotch notes are now accompanied by milk chocolate and hazelnut. Some graham cracker and toasted marshmallow. More of the pumpkin spice, and a bit of ginger and cinnamon toward the tail end. This is some tasty stuff. Finish: Finish is all spice. At first it's more ginger, then a rush of cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and clove. Vanilla sweetness throughout. It's medium-long, which is very respectable considering the relatively average ABV. This was quite a surprise. I purchased it on a whim, without much expectation, and I've got to say this is damn fine stuff. It's the first rum cask-finished bourbon/American whiskey I've tried, and I've got to say that it is a fine combination when properly executed. At $70, I'd say it was a worthwhile purchase. I wouldn't pay any more, but I feel that it performs well in comparison to others at this price point. The highlight is the palate, but it's really good stuff from start to finish. The classic bourbon profile collides with a nice dosage of rum cask influence, making for a damn fine product. Highly recommend for bourbon fans look to break the mold. It's also a fine way to introduce a friend to whiskey in general. Damn good stuff.

Rating: 18/23 I got this sample thanks to @Milliardo. I've never tried Jefferson's before and rum-finished bourbon is always interesting, so this should be a good experience. - Nose - Rich, toasty wood, with definite vanilla and a surprising hint of salted and roasted pork. A light note of something drying that borders on being slightly tart. - Palate - Quite rich, though not the fullest. There's this nice, big, toasty vanilla and caramel sweetness, which touches a hint of that pork from the nose. There are herbal flavors in here as well, which surprises me since they make this taste more like a rye at times. - Finish - The sweetness is really decadent, with enough going on to be enjoyable as it lingers into the finish with the light herbal notes. - Conclusion - I like the profile that this has. Its rye character reminds me of Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered (18/23), but side by side the Smoke Wagon is sweeter and younger, as well as less nuanced. This is a more mature and sophisticated dram. The rum cask was a great call here. This is a really standout bourbon, with decadence, complexity, and maturity. The nuance here makes this competitive with my latest bottle of Balcones True Blue Cask Strength (19/23), so I think I'll give this the same rating. I'd like this to be fuller. I did think that this might be a 20, but I'm now confident that it's not. It could be an 18. It's an 18 or a 19. I'm leaning toward an 18 now.

Nose: cotton candy, tobacco, cinnamon Taste: thin mouth feel, fruity sweetness - cherry and raspberry, Finish: dry and reminiscent of red wine, cola, sugary cereal After reading reviews: Flaviar corroborates the sweet, fruit and cinnamon notes I got. A reviewer on Whizzky also noted cereal on the finish. Thankfully the fruit didn’t come through as banana as it apparently did for some - I hate bananas. I also didn’t get a lot of caramel, nor would I characterize it as spicy as some did. Overall, it’s a nice sweeter bourbon with a variety of flavors but not quite the depth of flavor of higher proof whiskies that I prefer.

Whiskey wash.com: Nose: There’s no pepper or heat in the nose at all. It’s definitely got that sugary rummy quality. Caramelized sugar, butter, fresh crusty bread. Palate: Flavor-forward at the start with marshmallow and fondant, but that dissipates fairly quickly. So very smooth. It tastes like drinking a very fine rum, and not a whiskey. The sweetness isn’t overpowering. FINISH A long finish of vanilla, soft allspice, and toasted marshmallow