Jefferson’s Ocean Voyage 15 Bourbon Review

By Randall H. Borkus

Rating A-

Jefferson’s Bourbon founder Trey Zoeller partnered with OCEARCH founder, Chris Fischer, in 2012 to experiment aging bourbon at sea.  OCEARCH is a globally recognized nonprofit devoted to the study and tracking of great white and tiger sharks. At the time, aging bourbon on an ocean-bound ship appeared preposterous; however, Jefferson’s Bourbon Zoeller, rolled the dice and aged three barrels of bourbon on MV OCEARCH for four years while the research vessel traveled the Pacific Ocean tagging apex predators, great white sharks.

After four-years temperature fluctuations, salt water air exposure, and perpetual motion of the ship rolling in the seas Trey found it created a distinctive flavor profile for bourbon. Following the initial success, Jefferson’s grew the Ocean product line by shipping hundreds of barrels around the world for maturation. A typical barrel of Jefferson’s crosses the equator at least four times and visits 30 plus ports on its voyage.

That it should have yielded at least interesting results, however, should have been obvious. Madeira wine, after all, has its origins in seaborne aging.

Jefferson’s traditionally sourced its bourbon from various distillers, which explains why some releases of Jefferson’s Ocean include the Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey designation while others include only the straight bourbon whiskey with no reference to Kentucky. Voyage 15 was their first wheated bourbon release, and was bottled at 90 proof. However, in 2015 Jefferson’s inked a deal with Kentucky Artisan Distillers out in Crestwood, Kentucky, to secure a steady flow of Kentucky juice.

The Bourbon
The bourbon’s color is a deep cooper amber-like solution worthy of a trunk show with oily legs clasping to my delinquent Glencairn glass. The nose softly entered my senses with a salted Carmel-vanilla crème brûlée essence and then a note of dusty honey-wheat followed by a surge of fresh tobacco and fresh cut oak.

The mouthfeel was warm and viscous, almost oily, with a taste that was briny and silky smooth. Moving to my mid-palate, it deposited hints of caramel, vanilla crème brûlée and an earthy/savory flavor, one that I initially struggled to identify.

The finish continued to show the influence of the fresh sea air, the motion of sloshing back and forth for years in oak, all of which provided a lingering brininess, a twining of corn sweetness, fresh wheat bread and an earthy/savory essence of fresh miso that stayed with me for a long time.

The thing to be conscious of here is that the successful Jefferson’s flavor notes of previous ocean voyages are further augmented in Ocean voyage 15 Wheated as the salt, corn sweetness, caramel, vanilla and oak wood flavor notes are no longer hindered by traditional rye spice. Instead, the corn sugars and wood flavors in this wheated bourbon are exemplified with great precision in this whiskey.

This Ocean voyage 15 Wheated was a real sleeper for me.  I never anticipated the flavor complexity the wheat would open up to this degree. The hint of salt is prevalent on the nose as well as throughout the whole flavor experience.  I also find an amazing savory miso on the finish which gave me fits figuring out as it lingered so delightfully on my palette. I suspect Jefferson’s Ocean Voyage 15 Wheated will be sought after for years to come and I suspect that once the word gets out this will disappear as enjoyable Wheated bourbon hard to find.

The Price
There’s plenty 750ml bottles on the shelves in Chicago for $79.00, and I’ve seen it for $85.00 online.  I suspect it won’t last and when Jefferson’s Ocean Voyage 15 Wheated is gone it will be gone.