Jefferson's

Jefferson's began in the late 1990s as a family venture of Trey Zoeller and his father Chet in Kentucky. Rather than starting with its own distillery, the brand built its name by selecting and blending bourbon sourced from Kentucky distilleries, and it later became part of Castle Brands, which was bought by Pernod Ricard.

The style rests on blending. The Very Small Batch Bourbon and the standard Jefferson's Bourbon marry a handful of barrels of different ages and recipes, aiming for an approachable, rounded Kentucky bourbon. The 20 Year Old Presidential Select sits at the other end, an old, sourced bourbon released in limited batches.

The brand is best known for its experiments. Ocean Aged at Sea is bourbon whose barrels travelled on ships, the idea being that motion and changing climate speed up contact with the wood. The Jefferson's Reserve finishes take bourbon into casks that held other drinks: Old Rum Cask Finish, the Groth Reserve Cask Finish in barrels from the Napa winery Groth, and the Pritchard Hill Cabernet Cask Finish.

The Wood Experiment box sets go further, presenting small bottles of the same bourbon matured or finished with different wood treatments side by side, so a drinker can taste what the cask does. They suit the curious buyer who wants to learn rather than simply pour.