Jefferson's Presidential Select 18 Year-Old, Ky Straight Bourbon

 Bourbon Review #19: Jefferson’s Presidential Select, 18 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Category: “Boutique”

Price: $90-200 (No MSRP)

Availability: 2012. Now Obsolete        

Proof: 94, 47%AVB

Age: 18-Years-Old

Mashbill: Wheated Bourbon

Distillery: Stitzel Weller- Shively, Kentucky

     It’s not often that I get an opportunity to review an old wheated bourbon; let alone, one from the legendary distillery of Stitzel Weller! I knew I wouldn’t get far into this review before addressing the ambiguity/controversy surrounding this expression. Based on my research, I’ll do my best to set the record straight.

     Fact #1: All whiskeys bottled under the Castle Brands Inc.- Jefferson’s label are sourced.  Trey Zoeller is the owner/founder of the Jefferson’s Company. However, his company does not own or operate a distillery; therefore, the whiskeys that are bottled under the Jefferson’s labels are sourced from other distilleries.  Their most common expressions of bourbon are “Jefferson’s and Jefferson’s Reserve”. One of their premium lines is called “Jefferson’s Presidential Select”.

     This line offers a wide variety of super-aged expressions. It also includes a large scope of whiskey styles, ranging from straight rye, to wheated bourbon. The subject for this review is the Jefferson’s Presidential Select 18 year-old, wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon.

     This expression was released in 2012. Reportedly, this bourbon was both distilled and aged at the Stitzel Weller distillery. This is the same distillery that gave birth to other wheated bourbon products such as Van Winkle “Pappy”, W.L. Weller, Old Fitzgerald and others.

     Stitzel Weller was closed in 1992. At this time, Diageo purchased the distillery. Although the distillery was never used again, Diageo continued to use the Rick-houses for aging whiskies. They have also recently opened up a historical section of the distillery for Bourbon Trail tourists. The last of the distilled juice was barreled up after the decision was made to close the distillery. It then went on to age for (in this case) 18 years.

     Fact #2: Trey Zoeller/Castle Brands, Inc. purchased barrels of aging wheated bourbon from the Stitzel Weller distillery. Jefferson’s released the first of these dumped barrels in 2011. It was a 17 year-old wheated bourbon. The following year, the 18-year version was released. Many people believe that the 17-year was superior to the 18 year. Aside from the age difference, both the 17-year and the 18-year are basically the same juice…or are they?

     Shortly after the 2011 (17 year old) release, the word got out that Jefferson’s was releasing old S.W. wheated bourbon. Consumers began aggressively buying this juice up like hot cakes! The word on the street was, “if you want Pappy, and cant find it, you should get this stuff! It’s the next best thing!”

     Fact #3: Trey Zoeller admitted in an interview to adding 30% of a 20-year-old, sourced (non-Stitzel Weller) rye bourbon to top off the barrels in the later batches of the 18 year-old release. The obvious theory regarding this decision was made in order to stretch out the release.

     Despite this change, no attempt was made to communicate this information to the consumers. In order to side step the controversial decision, a sticker on the bottle simply said, “aged in Stizel Weller barrels”. In my opinion, the appropriate sticker should have said, “This bourbon is a small batch of 70% S.W. wheated bourbon, and 30% 20 year old rye sourced bourbon. But, no such information was communicated. Thus, the controversy and subsequent negative pushback ensued.

     People were confused by the strange information on the bottle “aged in Stitzel Weller barrels”. The common question floating around was “Is the Jefferson’s Presidential Select 18 year actually Stitzel Weller juice”?

     To make matters more frustrating and confusing, Jefferson’s never release an MSRP. This meant that one liquor store would price it at $90.00 a bottle, while a store down the street would price it at $200.00.

     Efforts were made by bourbon reviewers to dig deeper into the controversy. The takeaway was that only the later batches of the 18-year release contained the non-S.W., 20 year-old, rye bourbon. As one would imagine, pinning down the exact crossover batch # would be nearly imposable. Most folks agree that the transition occurred after batch #20. Therefore, batches starting with #20, and continuing until the end of the release, are highly likely to contain the sourced bourbon.

     Bourbon reviewers point out the color difference between the early and later batches. See below photo: (Left batch #27. Right-batch #13). 

     Does this mean that the latter batches are throwaway? Not in the least! Although, I have not personally tried the later batches, reviewers who have, reported that they liked them very much.

     For the record, my batch is #13. For this reason, I’m confident that my bottle is 100% S.W., 18 year-old, wheated bourbon. But, even if it weren’t, it would be fine with me! Although, it’s desirable from a collector’s standpoint to have some old S.W. bourbon tucked away in your pantry, it’s not the be-all-end-all! In other words, I don’t buy into the philosophy that we will never have the quality of juice that S.W. was capable of producing from days gone by. This leads me to my next three points.

     Point #1: The Van Winkle family has proven that you can take a premium bourbon from a historic distillery, and roll it over to a different distillery, without compromising the integrity of the product. This proves that it’s more about the quality control implemented by a company, rather than the distillery itself. Let it be said, that the distillery plays an important roll, however it’s not the definitive factor.

     Point #2: I believe that people have a tendency to look at the past through rose-colored glasses. My philosophy is that we are NOW living in the good old days of American whisky production! From supper premium limited edition offerings, to ever day pantry staples, there has never been a time in history where we had so many options available to us! We should not take this for granted! 

     Point #3: I would not expect it to stay this good forever. Although, the quality of whiskies may continue to increase, current marketing trends show us that the prices will as well. This trend parallels the demand for premium-high-end American whiskies. We should consider ourselves fortunate to be able to walk into a store, and purchase limited edition bourbons for around or just under $100.00. I fear that this will soon be a thing of the past. For some folks, cost may not be an obstacle, but this is certainly not the case for me! My point is that we should enjoy what we have, while we have it!

     
     Overall: This is a sophisticated old wheated bourbon with notes of mild candied fruit, apricot, cranberries, orange zest, fresh baked apple pie, buttered pie crust, cinnamon, white raisins, mild oak, butterscotch, sweet pecan pie filling, and vanilla. The viscosity is middle of the road. The finish is surprisingly long.

     The only negative aspect to this expression is that the alcohol could be integrated a little more evenly. Not that it produces an off note, just a slight bite about mid pallet. That’s the only factor that keeps this bourbon from being in the “master class” (10 out of 10) category. The Colonel’s score is a 9 out of 10. That puts it in the same tear as the 2013 George T. Stagg, Willett Family Estate 9 year single barrel, 2013 Parkers Heritage and Van Winkle’s 13 year-old straight rye. At the end of the day, I feel that the spirit falls slightly short when compared to the hype surrounding the label. I would say that this expression is more appealing as a collector’s item, although the juice, in and of itself, is very nice!