This Week's Bourbon Edition - Sailing Across the Devil's Sea

[SapperDawg]

Today we had an ocean themed tasting, sampling Jefferson's Ocean Voyages 3, 4 and 5. First up, yes, Ocean is kind of a gimmick. There are plenty of better whiskeys out there at this price point, but this is a good one, and for bourbon geeks, it is worth having one of these on the shelf for the nostalgia of it, if nothing else.



The tasting:

Voyage 3 - This one was the oldest of the lot, having been in the cabinet for about a year. It was only 1/3 full at this point, and had plenty of time open up in the bottle. We found this one had the most briny taste out of the group, along with a leather and vanilla hint. Very good pour.

Voyage 4 - This one was a new bottle, and was noticeably spicer than Voyage 3. Good rye present here, and is reportedly over 30% rye mash. Not as much character as 3 or as much brine, but a very good whiskey.

Voyage 5 - Another new bottle, this one hit like a mack truck after the first two. Much hotter and spicer than 3 or 4. Almost no brine taste detected here.

We are looking forward to doing this again in a few months to let the Voyage 4 and 5 bottle air out a bit. Overall, we are fans of the Jefferson line in general, but it is probably not worth chasing the different voyages, as the blends are pretty much standardized now.

So the recommendation is to have one of these around, but don't pay secondary market prices, and don't chase the different voyages. These should begin to be much more available than they have been in years past.