Brian’s Jefferson’s Reserve Review:
written on 19-January-2019
JEFFERSON’S RESERVE REVIEW:
Jefferson’s Reserve is a bigger, higher proof brother to Castle Brands’ Jefferson’s Very Small Batch. Its promise of sweet freshness detected on the nose betrayed what I was to pick up on the tongue. A strong nutmeg aftertaste lingers. While this bourbon is not unpleasant, it does not compare with my favorites.
JEFFERSON’S RESERVE VITAL STATS
– Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
– Distillery: Kentucky Artisan Distillery (KAD) … Castle Brands (as of early 2019 Castle Brands has a 20% ownership stake in KAD)
– Mash bill: unknown; believed to be high Rye
– Age: NAS
– ABV: 45.1% (90.2 Proof)
– Batch #: 360
– Bottle #: 05070
– Price: $47.95 USD in Idaho
Per the company’s website, Jefferson’s Reserve is a blend of up to four sourced new and aged bourbons from established distilleries finished with “… some old-fashioned experimenting …”
See more at Kentucky Artisan Distillery Brands.
ENJOYMENT METHOD:
For the evaluation, I shared the juice neat from Glencairn glasses with my daughter and fellow Whiskey for the Ages reviewer Hannah.
Check out her review for this bourbon here!
NOSE:
The nose has no detectable alcohol and is gentle and subtle . An aroma of fresh shucked sweet corn combined with fresh picked apples. A faint caramel sweetness dissipated nicely into fresh whipped cream.
PALATE:
The sweet freshness detected on the nose does not pass through to the tongue. A bold and surprising essence of cloviness gave way to nutmeg, which caught me off-guard. This bottle of Jefferson’s Reserve was a briny cinnamon apple. Its toffee and bittersweet chocolatiness mixed with a hint of pepper and barrel spice. This bourbon had no burn, but was warming with an oh-so-subtle piney woodiness.
Balance, Body, Feel, and Look:
Jefferson’s Reserve is not full-bodied but creamy, and melts away in ones mouth. Its short legs clung in the Glencairn then as droplets fall back into the tawny bowl.
FINISH:
The finish was medium-long and dry. The clovi-nutmeg spiciness sensed on the palate, while not unpleasant, lingered extra long in the back of my mouth and tongue after the dram was swallowed. I felt as though a cleanse with a sweeter bourbon was needed to cut away the blend of baking spices.
MY RATING: 60/100
Will I seek out this whiskey in the future? No
Click to read Brian’s scoring process.
Click 60/100 to access other whiskies with this score.
Back to …