Jefferson’s Presidential Select 30 Year Review – The Arvada Tavern
Contributed by on Jan 14, 2014
One reader loves this post.
The 30 year Jefferson’s Presidential Select arrived in Colorado this month, starting our new year off with what will probably be one of the more controversial releases all year. I believe the bottle wholesales for slightly under $200, and the national range for retail is from as low as $200 all the way up to $499. A big part of this huge range in price is a result of Jefferson’s failing to set a public MSRP, again. This leaves retailers untethered to expectations and customers blind to whether they are getting a good deal or if they are donating hundreds of dollars to their greedy liquor store.
This also means that what you see is what you get with this bottle, because there is no information whatsoever from the bottler. The release of the bottle preceded any official statement or press release from Trey Zoeller or anyone at Castle Brands, so you don’t know where the bourbon was distilled (surprise, surprise), the mash bill, the aging conditions, or even what state it came from.
All you know for sure is that there is a 30 year age statement, it is a straight bourbon, and it is 90.4 proof.
These 30 year old barrels could have come from a reputable distillery, aged in the lowest level of a professional, open air rickhouse with quality control measures and professional oversight, they could be from Seagrams era MGP, or they could come from a defunct distillery that closed after 1983. If the latter scenario is true, these barrels could have been stuck in a dank, unventilated shed for three decades for all we know, so there is some cause for concern over not knowing the provenance of these barrels when you consider the price.
That is what most people will get hung up on. The unrelenting secrecy from Castle Brands about the source of the JPS30 will turn a lot of people away from this release, but this bottle’s selling point is not provenance like it was with the Stitzel-Weller versions. The super high, grey bearded age statement is unlike anything we have seen before. While the uncertainty of the source has me worried, the age alone has me interested enough to try it.
Aside from that, the only thing that really matters here is the consumer’s valuation of a sourced 30 year bourbon. Jefferson’s and Michter’s, seem to be the two remaining top shelf independent bottlers with Willett Family Estate and age stated Black Maple Hill slowing to a crawl. Normally, these four brands would all be competing with each other for the same shrinking stock of barrels, but with Willett going legit, and Black Maple Hill tagging along for the ride, Jefferson’s and Michter’s seem to be the last two standing.
The only noticeable difference between these brands is Michter’s pricing, which indicates someone over there is doing needle drugs. $100 for a ten year bourbon and rye, upwards of $400 to $500 for a twenty year bourbon, and $3,000 for a small batch with some 30 year old stuff in it from an undisclosed source? I respectfully decline, as I do not hate money, nor do I relish in the overblown accomplishment of taking home any old bottle from a locked case.
I suppose Trey Zoeller’s Jefferson’s brand is as good as any of them, and if retailers would have obliged the MSRP of last year’s 21 year bourbon (MSRP $119, sold for $130-$160 in CO, up to $200 online), I would have no real qualm with any of the previous releases. Yes, the thought of a 25 and 30 year old bourbon immediately brings a taste of distilled bark chips and boiled twigs to the back of my mouth, but how often do you expect to see something this old, regardless of what distillery it comes from?
Right now, The Arvada Tavern is the only bar I know of that has pulled a bottle in the Denver area. All of their pours are a full two ounces and they have prices that are equal to the big bars that use a more common 1.5 ounce pour. For two ounces of the 30 year Jefferson’s Presidential Select, it will cost you $30, or $1 per year of age. The West End Tavern also uses this measure for pricing on many of their bottles, but again, they only use a 1.5 ounce pour.
The downside of the two ounce pour is that they pulled the JPS30 bottle in on a Friday, and on the following Monday when I got in to try it, the bottle was already over a quarter empty. I would love to see them put one more bottle away for down the road or for a private tasting, but with less than 100 cases in total, there may not be many more bottles available to Colorado than what is out there now.
JPS 30 Review
Color: Damn. Dark, like flat, un-iced cola. Exactly what you would expect from 30 years in oak, but if this is what this bourbon looks like cut to 90.4 proof, I imagine it looked like day old black coffee at the barrel proof.
Nose: Not at all what I was expecting. First, candied cherries, orange rind and lemon Pledge take a big role, followed by dark caramel, a sticky cinnamon bun, hot honeyed berries, and a full spice box. The oak is a combination of toasted oak with lots of vanilla, and the smell of a freshly lit campfire that presents with a small nuttiness and light floral note. Not at all the wood presence you would expect from a bourbon that lived in wood for 30 years, but it is certainly present.
Sip: Great, velvet mouthfeel that is as silky as it is oily. The front palate has soft caramel candy, fresh toffee, and a wonderful agave and molasses. The mid palate is loaded with a very strong, distinct, slightly bitter orange rind, dark berry, and a faint amount of that lemon furniture polish from the nose. The back is not what I expected, at all. Right away there is a full spice box of cinnamon, clove, paprika, and then comes the wood. Just like the nose, it is one part toasted oak, with heavy doses of a peeled vanilla bean, and one part charred, smoldering oak, slightly floral, modestly bitter.
Finish: The finish is exquisite. That orange peel zest sticks around long after the sip, mingling perfectly with some oaky vanilla, maple, clove, and a bitter, yet sweet char that really rounds out a very lengthy finish.
Overall Grade: B+
Just judging the bourbon alone, the quality easily reaches A/A- in my book, and I fully admit I did not want to like it. It is rich, flavorful, and it has a ton of character that I really enjoyed. The profile is very defiant of the age, with only a moderate bitterness that hardly gets in the way of the other flavors. I could use a bit more balance in the back of the sip other than the oak, but it satisfied my best expectations and avoided most of my worst fears.
Obviously, the biggest ding against the JPS30 is the price and the absence of an MSRP. I get that it is old, I get that it is rare, but the 27 year Parker’s Heritage release sold for $200 and came with the assurances of a reputable distillery and legendary Master Distiller. With the possibility of these barrels coming from a defunct distillery whose barrels have 30 years worth of rat urine and feces caked on top, I feel that the price should have been much closer to the Parker’s release. Unfortunately, we have no leverage to negotiate the price down because there is no MSRP.
Even if you despise non-distiller producers, there is no getting around the fact that this very well may be the oldest bourbon you or I ever taste. The fact that it doesn’t suck is simply icing on the cake for those with a bourbon bucket list. If I order a pour over $15, it usually means I am only ordering it to check it off my list. I know that $30 will buy a full bottle of most daily sippers, but I felt the JPS30 was worth every penny, and I would even consider ordering it again if I found $30 in my pocket.
Drink this, not that: The closest thing you are going to get to the JPS30 is the slightly younger but far more inexpensive 25 year Jefferson’s Presidential Select bourbon. Since they were released on the same day, odds are they were sourced from the same distillery. Expect to pay $150 to $200.
Filed under: A Grade Bourbons, B Grade Bourbons, Blog of Bourbon, Bourbon Reviews, Colorado Bourbon Bars Tagged: Bourbon, Bourbon review, Jefferson's Bourbon, Jefferson's Presidential Select, The Arvada Tavern