Jefferson's Very Old Very Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey 750ml

Jefferson's Very Old Very Small Batch is the blender's art practiced at miniature scale. Where big distilleries marry hundreds of barrels into a batch, this bourbon is assembled from a mere eight to twelve casks at a time — a scale the Zoellers only half-jokingly call ridiculously small batch. At that size, every individual barrel has a voice in the final pour.

The blend draws on well-aged Kentucky straight bourbons, each distilled from a mash of corn, rye, and malted barley, with stocks reaching up to twenty years in the oldest components. Old bourbon is temperamental — too much wood and it turns bitter — so composing these batches means balancing deep, decades-earned oak against younger vibrancy, then bringing the marriage to proof with Kentucky limestone water.

Maturity defines the profile. Rich caramel and vanilla custard mingle with dried orchard fruit and rye spice on the nose. The palate turns viscous and fruity: deep toffee, cinnamon and clove, dark honey, orange peel, and a wisp of tobacco over polished oak. The 90.2 proof finish lingers with chewy caramel, vanilla bean, and slow-fading citrus.

This is contemplative bourbon, best served neat in a snifter with time to breathe. Reach for it when the evening calls for something with genuine age behind it — a pour that shows what patient warehousing and careful barrel arithmetic can accomplish together.

• Size: 750ml
• Proof: 90.2 (45.1% ABV)
• Age or Class: Straight Bourbon; components aged up to 20 years
• Origin: Kentucky, USA
• Distillery: Kentucky Artisan Distillery, Crestwood
• Style/Class: Very small batch blend of aged straight bourbons
• Composition: Blend of bourbons from corn, rye, and malted barley mash; 8–12 casks per batch
• Cask/Aging: Extended maturation in new charred American oak
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, vanilla custard, dried fruit, clove, dark honey, orange peel, tobacco