Jefferson's Reserve Presidential 18

[BourbonJoe]

Randy,

A most thoughtful treatice of this thread. What you say makes very good sense to me.

Joe :usflag:

[Gillman]

Agreed and Dave Gonano's remarks make sense to me too. (Sorry I missed you, Dave, at the recent events). Old Fitzgerald, I think even with Distillery but certainly without it, would have been a trade name of UDV. It clearly contracted out distillation at Buffalo Trace in later 1991. Or so the barrel head found by Randy would suggest. UDV could age and sell it as Old Fitzgerald, subject to any legal requirement to state the actual production (as opposed to contracting) distillery on the label. But that would only apply to bonded stocks. And even then, I recall a discussion that juice trucked new to a plant and aged there throughout could (had to?) use the latter's DSP name. Now, this is not to say UDV occasionally did this before October 1991. But it might have. Say DSP 16 was being refurbished, or some other cause (upstream yeast issues, who knows) interrupted production and UDV's other facilities were not suitable. October 1991 was before the reputed closing of DSP 16 in 1992... Anyway I too think the Jefferson Reserve 17 was from S-W (DSP 16). The 18 may have been so-called phantom stock. I doubt the Willett's were either but you never know.

Gary

[tommyboy38]

I have no idea where it came from but I think we put too much stock in the rules and the labels on bottles. I have a bottle of Dant BIB in the bunker that appears to be from 2005 but says that it was distilled at Heaven Hill which stopped distilling in 1996. I think they'll use any labels they have sitting around as long as the brand is right.

P.S. - Very interesting picture. Thanks for posting that Randy.

[BradleyC]

The Jefferson's 18 is now sold out at KL Wine

[B-Zero]

Having just gotten my hands on a bottle of JRPS17 I was interested to see the comments in this thread.

All i have to say is the depth of knowledge here is a joy to read through. Thankyou for everyones input and making my day at work a lot more interesting!

Continue

[Virus_Of_Life]

The Jefferson's 18 is now sold out at KL Wine

[fricky]

There are more fools with excess money than men with decent palettes for sure.

[Virus_Of_Life]

Of course not Doug, sorry I should keep my opinions to myself or better explain them at times. I was referring more to the people who buy this stuff by the half dozen which I am sure happened for K&L to sell out that (relatively) quickly. I just see this whole Jeffersons and all the associated bottlings as a sort of comedy and will be glad when it passes so we can get back to talking about the simple bourbons we enjoy.

[jfw]

Crap, I'm one of those fools. I have a bottle of the K&L 18. Personally, I really like the batch 4 Jefferson 17 yr old I had. Have to see if I like the 18 as much.

[bourbonNOOG]

I bought a bottle of this and it's good. Not the best but it's a nice addition to the collection of open bottles i have on the sideboard.

[politely]

I opened up a bottle tonight of JPS18, batch 16. Compared to the JPS 17 (batch 9), I think the differences are that the JPS 18 seems less sweet, has more oak/wood, and is a little darker/more brooding, and I enjoy the lingering black tea finish. In comparison, I thought the JPS 17 was livelier, lighter, and more herbal/grassy. I'm glad I have both.

[jcg9779]

I passed up a bottle of this today, but was very close to purchasing it.

To those that have tried this: do you think it's worth the $80 price tag or is it overpriced? I'm tempted to get it just because it's SW bourbon, and there is a limited amount left.

[fricky]

The value is based on personal opinion and taste. I have an open bottle from Batch #2. I think that it is great and worth the price I paid which was >$80.

[angler82]

A couple months ago I got a bottle of the 17 year (batch 8) on sale from the NH state liquor store for 70 bucks. While I think its worth the price and very delicious, I wouldn't buy multiple bottles. Right now it is my good to dessert bourbon- very smooth and sweet

[chefnash51]

I decided to get a bottle of the Julio's Select 18 yr, so far I am digging it. Not too much wood as I was afraid of. Not sure I like it better then the 17 yr but good to have both!

[BMartin42]

I just opened mine up. Batch 16. Just my personal opinion, but I am VERY dissapointed. It tastes very earthy. On the nose I am getting potting soil, and that follows all the way to the finish. By contrast, I loved the bottle of 17 that a friend and I split. Hope this tastes better after some air exposure.

[bad_scientist]

Oh wow, I had not seen the post (below) before, but it can help explain a lot. There are several 18 year Willett wheaters out, bottled in 1992. At least one supposedly is S-W (told to me by someone either involved in the barrel picking or working with the group). Somebody else also working with the group told me that five of the others were, as well.

I didn't get the details about the actual process, or where they got the barrels from, except that one guy said that "they", i.e. whoever had the stocks, were looking to get rid of a bunch of barrels.

I thought it was really weird, because I've seen lots of 17 year old Willetts distilled in 1993. Why were there so many wheaters of nearly the same age but (possibly) from different distilleries coming out at the same time?

Maybe they were for the Rebel Yell project that never took off, and now they're just being liquidated? Diageo evidently doesn't need them, but then maybe nobody does anymore.

There is no such thing as "Bernheim distillate in SW barrels." They're not refills, it's bourbon so they were new barrels. The only possible meaning of the term "SW barrels" is barrels containing whiskey made at SW. Bernheim distillate aged at SW would be Bernheim distillate aged at SW, and there is undoubtedly some of that still in the SW warehouses too, as UDV/Diageo owned Bernheim from 1992 to 1999.

People who are trying to suggest Jefferson's is selling you Bernheim distillate masquerading as SW are trying to stir up trouble for reasons of their own but there is no good evidence to support their inferences.

As for the provenance of these particular barrels, it has long been known that Diageo was sitting on a stash of 'SW barrels.' Exactly why they were sitting on them is unknown, except it was said they were destined for Crown Royal or some other Canadian whisky. The story that would be interesting to hear is why Diageo decided to cut them loose when and how they did. They may have more and for all we know, Buffalo Trace/Van Winkle and Heaven Hill do too.

[MacinJosh]

Oh wow, I had not seen the post (below) before, but it can help explain a lot. There are several 18 year Willett wheaters out, bottled in 1992. At least one supposedly is S-W (told to me by someone either involved in the barrel picking or working with the group). Somebody else also working with the group told me that five of the others were, as well.

I didn't get the details about the actual process, or where they got the barrels from, except that one guy said that "they", i.e. whoever had the stocks, were looking to get rid of a bunch of barrels.

I thought it was really weird, because I've seen lots of 17 year old Willetts distilled in 1993. Why were there so many wheaters of nearly the same age but (possibly) from different distilleries coming out at the same time?

Maybe they were for the Rebel Yell project that never took off, and now they're just being liquidated? Diageo evidently doesn't need them, but then maybe nobody does anymore.

I thought the 1992 18-yr Willett was Bernheim juice. I'm not for sure though. I could be wrong.

Josh

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bad_scientist]

Yeah, many of them could be - I'm just going from the word of two people connected with the particular bottlings available in DC.

I thought the 1992 18-yr Willett was Bernheim juice. I'm not for sure though. I could be wrong.

Josh

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[awachatz]

I have had both the 17 yr and 18 yr. Personally, I like the 17 yr better. In the 18 yr, I tasted too much "wood". I was a little surprised by that since the juice was only in there the extra 12 months. I find that both of these bourbons are much better after the bottle has been opened a couple months. Not something that I typically have the patience to do.

[docbible]

I can agree that the 17 is much better than the 18yo. The 18 seems to be past it's prime. I wish it had been bottled at 12 or possibly 15yo to compare to other SW products. Tim

[awachatz]

I would assume that the only people that enjoy the JPS18 are those that find a strong wood taste desirable in their bourbon. Excluding that aspect, it is very good. It still goes down smooth.

[jfw]

I enjoy a bit of wood on occasion. I also really liked JRPS 17 and the first K&L 18 bottling last year. However, my recently purchased JRPS 18 batch 30 is remarkably different. It has very little of the sweet caramel profile of JRPS 17. It is flat, uninspiring, earthy, musty and generally just tastes tired. I can't chalk it up to just one more year in wood. I would say they botteled the best barrels last year. I'm going to leave this one open for a while and maybe force myself to revisit it, but I really don't expect much.

[yountvillewjs]

It is flat, uninspiring, earthy, musty and generally just tastes tired. I can't chalk it up to just one more year in wood.

[jfw]

JRPS 18 has an artificial cork. I'd be interested in reviews from other batches. It on sale for $64 at the Montgomery Co. MD stores if anyone here wants to take the plunge.