Jeff Ocean II

[Brisko]

Maybe it's the perspective but they look a little undersized to me, too.

[tanstaafl2]

These barrels don't look old much less used.

http://www.bourbonbanter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/JeffersonsOcean-AgedBourbonTreyZoellerBarrels.jpg

Those pictures are from the original Ocean prior to its trip which was just barreled new make when it "set sail".

The new stuff is once again at a disappointingly low proof of 82.3 although at least it is at half the price, presuming one can find it. Or wants to find it. And they really went out of their way to make the label as plain as possible it seems.

Since I think there is something to agitation in the barrel and having bought the first one I would probably get one if the opportunity presented itself. Despite being the butt of jokes and the original cost being completely unjustified other than for the rarity and/or the desire to try the experiment for oneself I found it to be superior to most any 4yo bourbon I have tried and think this new experiment has a real chance to be an interesting bourbon.

More details about the journey and the original whiskey would be nice but I am not going to hold my breath.

[Scubarex]

It's a gimmick. I don't think even Jefferson's expect people to take it seriously. It's a fun experiment like Dogfish Head beers when they put their IPA on a transatlantic crossing...needless to say I bought one...look at my user ID Scubarex...Ocean...couldn't resist...

[Brisko]

Those pictures are from the original Ocean prior to its trip which was just barreled new make when it "set sail".

Maybe, but here is what purports to be an "after" picture and they don't look any different. Not even any oxidation on the hoops? Plus check out the way he's "sampling" the barrel.

http://www.bourbonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Jeffersons_Ocean_Barrel_Aged_Bourbon.png

I think Squire nailed it. Props.

[michaelturtle1]

stopped in a couple stores today and this stuff is all over Delaware.. If it is all over Delaware it sure as hell is not rare or very limited

[tanstaafl2]

Maybe, but here is what purports to be an "after" picture and they don't look any different. Not even any oxidation on the hoops? Plus check out the way he's "sampling" the barrel.

http://www.bourbonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Jeffersons_Ocean_Barrel_Aged_Bourbon.png

I think Squire nailed it. Props.

I stand corrected. I would agree that they seem likely to be props rather than the actual barrels. What little I heard suggested they were pretty well the worse for wear when they were retrieved after 4 years.

[PaulO]

Maybe they just dilute the barrel proof bourbon with water from the ocean. Or it just makes people feel like they are sea sick on an ocean voyage.

[Ravensfire]

Or it just makes people feel like they are sea sick on an ocean voyage.

I think that's what happens when they realize exactly what they got in relation to what they paid.

[docbible]

Maybe, but here is what purports to be an "after" picture and they don't look any different. Not even any oxidation on the hoops? Plus check out the way he's "sampling" the barrel.

http://www.bourbonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Jeffersons_Ocean_Barrel_Aged_Bourbon.png

I think Squire nailed it. Props.

My, what big bungs you have......tim

[sutton]

Sorry - after watching Trey Z. on that video and what they did with the JPS18's, never again. I have a Jeff 10 Rye batch 2, my only Jeff purchase and that is all the money they get from me. Too much other stuff at half price or lower that you can trust. And that jacket reminded me of this guy:

[whiskeyagonzo]

Sorry - after watching Trey Z. on that video and what they did with the JPS18's, never again. I have a Jeff 10 Rye batch 2, my only Jeff purchase and that is all the money they get from me. Too much other stuff at half price or lower that you can trust. And that jacket reminded me of this guy:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17848[/ATTACH]

[squire]

Step right up folks, I hold here in my hand . . .

[GaryT]

But to the real question . . . anyone know how it tastes? It could just do laps around the Gulf of Mexico for all I care

[Restaurant man]

But to the real question . . . anyone know how it tastes? It could just do laps around the Gulf of Mexico for all I care

No one will ever know how it tastes. This one will just change hands on the secondary. Over and over and over :confused:

[benpearson]

I'm pretty sure that the original Jefferson's Ocean was aged on an Osearch shark research vessel and that some or all of the proceeds went to fund this project. The current release was aged on a commercial ship.

I have not tried the new version yet, but plan on buying it. Even if it isn't the best whiskey ever produced, and I'm sure it won't be. Purchasing this product is supporting the idea of attempting new methods in whiskey production. Or, for that matter bringing, back an old method of aging by transporting it at sea. Either way I think it's a pretty cool effort, and I doubt that at under $80 retail they are making much money on this. Instead they are providing a unique product to consumers.

I know a lot of people like to hate on a company like Jefferson's for not producing their own product, or for coming up with some gimmick to sell it. I personally think that these guys provide a great service to the world of people who truly enjoy whiskey. If you want to always drink the same thing you can pick up a bottle of beam for $12. There is a lot of value in a bottle of Beam, and there is a place for that as well. At the same time if you want a guaranteed great whiskey, they are out there. They aren't always easy to get your hands on. For me, I'm willing to risk $80 to try something new. I'm not going to ridicule something that I haven't tried, just because there were times in the past where I could find BTAC on the shelf for the same price.

I feel the same way about some of these small companies like corsair or koval who make young whiskies out of various types grains. Yes, they are expensive...but they are unique. Hopefully in supporting these products it will bring innovation and in 30 years, I can drink Quinoa Whiskey Aged on an active volcano for $20 a bottle, and it will actually taste better than what I can get for $20 now. Along the way it doesn't bother me if I try something bad, which I doubt this release will be. My guess is that they picked a pretty good whiskey to start with before spending the money to ship it around the world and back.

[benpearson]

That would help explain lost barrels we occasionally hear about. Still, it would be fun to be on the marketing team who puts positive spin on such stuff. I wonder how Bourbon would age in space, that's the next logical move. They could say it orbited with the stars.

Ardbeg Galileo? I never figured out whether it actually contained samples from space or not, but there are efforts out there.

[nd2005]

I'm pretty sure that the original Jefferson's Ocean was aged on an Osearch shark research vessel and that some or all of the proceeds went to fund this project. The current release was aged on a commercial ship.

I have not tried the new version yet, but plan on buying it. Even if it isn't the best whiskey ever produced, and I'm sure it won't be. Purchasing this product is supporting the idea of attempting new methods in whiskey production. Or, for that matter bringing, back an old method of aging by transporting it at sea. Either way I think it's a pretty cool effort, and I doubt that at under $80 retail they are making much money on this. Instead they are providing a unique product to consumers.

I know a lot of people like to hate on a company like Jefferson's for not producing their own product, or for coming up with some gimmick to sell it. I personally think that these guys provide a great service to the world of people who truly enjoy whiskey. If you want to always drink the same thing you can pick up a bottle of beam for $12. There is a lot of value in a bottle of Beam, and there is a place for that as well. At the same time if you want a guaranteed great whiskey, they are out there. They aren't always easy to get your hands on. For me, I'm willing to risk $80 to try something new. I'm not going to ridicule something that I haven't tried, just because there were times in the past where I could find BTAC on the shelf for the same price.

I feel the same way about some of these small companies like corsair or koval who make young whiskies out of various types grains. Yes, they are expensive...but they are unique. Hopefully in supporting these products it will bring innovation and in 30 years, I can drink Quinoa Whiskey Aged on an active volcano for $20 a bottle, and it will actually taste better than what I can get for $20 now. Along the way it doesn't bother me if I try something bad, which I doubt this release will be. My guess is that they picked a pretty good whiskey to start with before spending the money to ship it around the world and back.

I'll spend money on companies that innovate and are willing to try new methods. I'll also buy sourced whiskey from NDPs that are at least remotely honest about the fact, especially ones that are making genuine efforts to distill their own product and we are currently waiting on the aging (think HW, SA, to a lesser extent Willett).

I think Jefferson more than just about anyone has been duplicitous about the contents of their bottlings, and now is increasingly relying on gimmicks (chef's collaboration, Ocean II) to justify raising the price on minimally aged blended product.

You could argue the original Ocean was a legitimate experiment - it was new whiskey aged entirely at sea for four years. This Ocean II is fully aged bourbon that otherwise would have been sold as standard Jefferson's that they tossed into a shipping container for a few months.

[benpearson]

I'll agree that chef's collaboration was somewhat of a flop. I did like the idea of asking people with good taste from outside of the industry to do a blend. Unfortunately, it turns out that this particular chef had no clue what he was doing, or at least not any more than the person at WT who "accidentally" mixed rye with bourbon.

[tanstaafl2]

I'm pretty sure that the original Jefferson's Ocean was aged on an Osearch shark research vessel and that some or all of the proceeds went to fund this project. The current release was aged on a commercial ship.

I have not tried the new version yet, but plan on buying it. Even if it isn't the best whiskey ever produced, and I'm sure it won't be. Purchasing this product is supporting the idea of attempting new methods in whiskey production. Or, for that matter bringing, back an old method of aging by transporting it at sea. Either way I think it's a pretty cool effort, and I doubt that at under $80 retail they are making much money on this. Instead they are providing a unique product to consumers.

I know a lot of people like to hate on a company like Jefferson's for not producing their own product, or for coming up with some gimmick to sell it. I personally think that these guys provide a great service to the world of people who truly enjoy whiskey. If you want to always drink the same thing you can pick up a bottle of beam for $12. There is a lot of value in a bottle of Beam, and there is a place for that as well. At the same time if you want a guaranteed great whiskey, they are out there. They aren't always easy to get your hands on. For me, I'm willing to risk $80 to try something new. I'm not going to ridicule something that I haven't tried, just because there were times in the past where I could find BTAC on the shelf for the same price.

I feel the same way about some of these small companies like corsair or koval who make young whiskies out of various types grains. Yes, they are expensive...but they are unique. Hopefully in supporting these products it will bring innovation and in 30 years, I can drink Quinoa Whiskey Aged on an active volcano for $20 a bottle, and it will actually taste better than what I can get for $20 now. Along the way it doesn't bother me if I try something bad, which I doubt this release will be. My guess is that they picked a pretty good whiskey to start with before spending the money to ship it around the world and back.

I'll spend money on companies that innovate and are willing to try new methods. I'll also buy sourced whiskey from NDPs that are at least remotely honest about the fact, especially ones that are making genuine efforts to distill their own product and we are currently waiting on the aging (think HW, SA, to a lesser extent Willett).

I think Jefferson more than just about anyone has been duplicitous about the contents of their bottlings, and now is increasingly relying on gimmicks (chef's collaboration, Ocean II) to justify raising the price on minimally aged blended product.

You could argue the original Ocean was a legitimate experiment - it was new whiskey aged entirely at sea for four years. This Ocean II is fully aged bourbon that otherwise would have been sold as standard Jefferson's that they tossed into a shipping container for a few months.

I am with Ben on this one (no doubt not surprising since I ponied up for the first one and tend to buy and enjoy a lot of oddities like Corsair). I also think that while Jefferson's has a poor reputation (well almost non existent really) with regards to transparancy and the JPS18 crap was a remarkable low even for them, they are hardly unique in their "duplicitousness". They are merely one of the biggest most visible names and so catch a large portion of the arrows slung that way. There are literally dozens of NDP labels they say little or nothing about the source of their whiskey or if they do they make crap up out of thin air. Need only read through here to find them nearly every day.

If the new Ocean II takes standard Jefferson's (which is a decent NDP whiskey at typical NDP prices) and by virtue of aging it on a cargo vessel for a few weeks or months makes something substantially better than I think that is a legitimate experiment. And my only way to know is to try it. My knowledge of how slow shipping moves through ports and the indication the ship went around the world and through 40 ports suggests it was easily in the months range rather than weeks but yes, I absolutely do wish Jefferson's would be more forthcoming with the details.

If you don't like it don't buy it. But I will still buy one if I can find it at or near retail.

I also kind of hope there is enough of this out there that most of the weasels on BX get stuck with this and can't sell it for much profit.

[Harry in WashDC]

". . . tossed in a shipping container for a few months."

Well, yes, absolutely, I, too, am interested in innovation in bourbons. Somebody above mentioned that the agitation may have made Ocean I taste older and better than its years. While the free advertising in an airline barfpocket mag (or even the profits-to-a-good-cause) wouldn't tip me over, the taste observation of an SBer would - if, of course one of the local bourbon bars has it. I'd like to see whether bigship agitation works as well as smallship - just curious like I was about Wasmund's scotch. Also wondering about how the 1st ship smelled after a couple of the barrels in the hold broke. But a bottle at $80+? Only if I can taste it first.

[benpearson]

I will also buy Jefferson's Ohio River Barge if it comes out. It should be cheaper, given proximity the proximity of LDI to the river, and ample moorings at the nearby coal power plant.

[TunnelTiger]

I can see it now, Jefferson's River Collection, the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Hudson, the Rio Grande, the list could on and on.

After that Jefferson's Interstate Collection where barrels are aged in specially designed 18 wheelers over thousand of miles.

[garbanzobean]

Ardbeg Galileo? I never figured out whether it actually contained samples from space or not, but there are efforts out there.

I don't believe it did, but I could be mistaken. As far as I know, it is just celebrating the fact that a sample of Ardbeg's spirit was sent into space. Chronologically, Ardbeg sent new make spirit into space in April 2012, and the vintage on Galileo (released September 2012) was 1999. I feel like they would have bragged more if they had actually mixed new make spirit that went into space with the 12 or 13 year old release. I was in the minority that really enjoyed Galileo even if it was kind of gimmicky and dumb. I keep thinking about buying another bottle, but for now I'll just stick with the 10 and Corryvreckan.

[squire]

Lets not forget the airlines, of course the barrels might burst in unpressurized cargo high altitudes.

[flahute]

Lets not forget the airlines, of course the barrels might burst in unpressurized cargo high altitudes.

Ohhhhh yes, they could age some barrels on one of the mothballed Concorde jets at a museum and then market it as if the aging occurred at supersonic speeds (which would clearly accelerate the aging process ya know).