BOTM 12/12: Jefferson's Presidential Select

My first experience was at 2011 Whiskey Fest Chicago. I was with another Bourbon nut, and very early on, right after we tasted thru the whole Van Winkle table, we hit the Jefferson's table. Trey was pouring the 18 and it was amazing. I mean lights out great. It actually blew our minds, and was the best memory of the event. I bunkered a number of bottles after returning home, and they were all Batch 12. While good, they never matched the honey bottle that Trey was pouring. I never saw the batch that he was pouring, but in retrospect, I sure wish I had.

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Originally Posted by White Dog

My first experience was at 2011 Whiskey Fest Chicago. I was with another Bourbon nut, and very early on, right after we tasted thru the whole Van Winkle table, we hit the Jefferson's table. Trey was pouring the 18 and it was amazing. I mean lights out great. It actually blew our minds, and was the best memory of the event. I bunkered a number of bottles after returning home, and they were all Batch 12. While good, they never matched the honey bottle that Trey was pouring. I never saw the batch that he was pouring, but in retrospect, I sure wish I had.

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I bet it wouldn't have mattered if you saw the batch number as it was probably a ringer. The bottles of 17 & 18 I've had were all different, some were more woody than others.

The matter of different designations has been solved for me by Jefferson. The D-8, D-46 & D fifty-something that our retailer has are all single barrels. The Batch numbered are the blends .. or small batch offerings. As noted earlier, we tasted each of these three and they were all outstanding. It was also confirmed to me that these single barrels are all 100% Stitzel-Weller. If you like it (and many obviously do) it's good to know that there is still some out there because we know for sure that there won't be much, if any, around long unless someone knows of a hidden stash out there.

I prefer the 17 to the 18. I've had one bottle of the 18 and several of the 17(Batch 4).

I find the 17 to be, as HighHorse described in earlier post in this thread like "liquid candy" with all the notes we love in old wheaters........vanilla, butterscotch, brown sugar, etc.

The 17 is dangerously good, and I will buy it every time I see it in the $80.00 range.

Bill.

Went back to the JPS18, Batch 13 to taste again and tried it against some Weller 12 just for fun rather to see if the Weller was a worthy option. Don't have PVW15 or a Lot B to put it up against. The JPS is slightly darker in color and has a sweeter nose. Both seemed to me to have a similar oilyness to them but neither was particular heavy (the heavier the better to me). I suppose in part it is a result of chill filtering? Certainly couldn't compete with a Stagg or Handy but not sure what a good lower proof non chill filtered option would be.

Both were easy to drink on their own at 94 vs 90 proof and yet I thought both improved with just a single drop of water in my relatively small sample size. Both also had a decent finish with sweetness dominating and very little burn or spicey notes. The JPS was probably a little more full and balanced but was not what I would describe as particularly oaky (Batch 13 seems to be pretty decent unlike the EC20 I have which was much too woody to me to be truly enjoyable) while the Weller was perhaps a tad bit more one dimensional to me.

Strictly on the taste I would choose the JPS over the Weller. But I don't think it is 3-4 times as good and would be OK with the Weller on a regular basis given the cost difference and save the JPS for the occasional "special" event. If there is a pronounced difference between a BT wheater and a S-W wheater I lack the sophistication to ID it.

The fact that the price of the Weller also makes it a perfectly good mixing bourbon is an added bonus.

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Originally Posted by LikeItWasSodaPop

Here's what I want to know, i.e. really want to know:

Over the last 6 months, I've seen a lot of 20s+ batch numbers for the 18 at Chicago area Binny's stores. Now I'm seeing much lower batch numbers.

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I have seen exactly the same thing at Binny's when I visited in mid October. I had previously purchased bottles of batches 28, then 17, then 16, then at Binny's handwritten batch #9. Don't understand the batch release logic at all. The Binny's #9 was the sweetest with the least amount of oak, and the #28 i purchased here was an oak bomb...I really enjoyed it, very different, but I can see how many would be turned off by it.

Swung by the local store today. The JPS 18 was previously batch 13. The current bottles are batch 11. Don't know anything about Batch 11.

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Originally Posted by tanstaafl2

Swung by the local store today. The JPS 18 was previously batch 13. The current bottles are batch 11. Don't know anything about Batch 11.

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Stopped by another store and they had JPS 18, Batch 26 (I think). Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Opened a JPS18 batch 14 to celebrate BOTM. I've been meaning to compare it to the end of my 17 year old. First glass is pretty good. I'll give the 18 at least a week before putting them head to head. Doesn't seem overly woody so far so I'm expecting it to open up nicely.

I picked up a bottle of 17, batch 6, in Myrtle Beach for $60 (1/3 off sale). It is very good but for $60 I'd rather have Vintage 17 and wouldn't buy another for $90.