Favorite Pours of 2018 - Part Three: Jefferson's Ocean Voyage 14

Life my friends is a matter of perspective. Imagine if we selected two near-identical barrels, taste wise, of 6 to 7 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and then rolled one of those barrels back into the warehouse, but rolled the other into a steel shipping container that itself was placed on a cargo ship that proceeded to take to the high seas for the next six months. During its journey, the barrel would cross the equator four times, pass through the Panama Canal at least once, and visit over thirty different ports of call. The question is, once our seafaring barrel returned home, would it still taste 'near-identical' to its warehouse-bound sibling as it had before departing?

Bourbon nerds tend to have one of two responses to the above scenario - 'wow, who cares, that sounds like a pure marketing gimmick to sell inferior whiskey at a premium price ' or 'wow, that sounds amazing, let's get to tasting and find out! '. See, perspective, but sending barrels of whiskey scooting around the world's oceans is precisely what Jefferson's does to hundreds of barrels of bourbon each year. Their motivation is two-fold - first to pay homage to how bourbon used to travel from Kentucky to New Orleans via flatboats on the Mississippi River, and second to explore the effects of near-constant motion/agitation that a ship at sea induces on barrels of whiskey. To date, there have been sixteen different voyages (Jefferson's website only lists fifteen, but I do have a bottle from voyage 16), most bottled at a common 45%, but some bottled at 'cask strength'.

I will admit, what drew me to this particular bottle was the neck-tag bearing the double red-with-black square maritime flags that are flown when hurricanes are nearby and approaching. I had never purchased a Jefferson's product up to that point, but reading the tag's text describing Voyage 14's journey pushed me over the speculative edge. The ship carrying Voyage 14's bourbon departed Savannah on May 31, 2017. While en-route to the Panama Canal, the ship would fly a single red-with-black square flag indicating proximity to 'only' tropical storm level weather. When the ship crossed into the Pacific to continue its journey however, she would fly the double red-with-black square flags five separate times as she darted between typhoons while servicing her Pacific Basin itinerary before crossing back through the Panama Canal to return home.

Now does any of this make a lick of difference in this bourbon's quality? That I'm afraid I cannot answer conclusively, but I don't think anyone would dispute that it makes for one heck of a story. For me, a whiskey's story does play a part in the overall experience, but I do completely understand those who feel that it's what fills the glass that is important, not what fills the advertising copy.

So what's in this glass? Well, we can say Kentucky Straight Bourbon but we cannot get more specific than that as Jefferson's doesn't actually distill a drop of their bourbon nor do they say where their older bourbons originated from. Moving past the provenance, I will offer my opinion that regardless of voyage number, each pour I have had from the Jefferson's Ocean line has tasted entirely unique from any other bourbon I have tasted, even within other Jefferson's product lines. From first smell and taste, I was instantly intrigued by these bourbons.

The nose is unlike any other straight bourbon I have ever enjoyed. Floral, candy, cotton candy, even bubble gum all come to mind. There is some spice, but the hallmark vanilla and caramel are notably muted, replaced with more of a toffee smell. Bottled at 56% ABV, the alcohol is nearly absent to the nose. The aromas continue to the palate, but the spice is far more dominant in the mouth; this has got to be a rye-based bourbon. Amazingly, the sweetness, and this is a sweet bourbon, is not the corn sweetness of most bourbons, no it is a candy sweetness, dare I say even a salted caramel or toffee. There is near-zero wood in the experience, which is staggering to me - one of the few bourbons I have experienced where this is true. While this bourbon sips far easier than its proof indicates, there is an alcohol prickle indicative of a youthful bourbon. Don't confuse prickle with harshness however, there is nothing harsh in this experience for me. The finish is medium-length to me with spice first, then more of that candy sweetness, the bubblegum impression from the nose returns for me on the finish. Like with the smell and taste, there is near-zero oak/wood on the finish.

Did the months at sea influence this bourbon's flavor? Well, given how unique every Ocean pour is to me from any other bourbon, I personally feel the answer is yes. But returning to perspective, I also fall on the 'wow, that sounds amazing ' side of the fence, so impartial I am not. I love the idea of bourbon sloshing around as a ship plods along on the open ocean and I want to believe that yes, being at sea actually does impart some maritime magic into the bourbon. I want to believe...

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
- John Masefield

Drink up me hearties yo ho