Old Jett Brothers is an old label being revived by the Neeley Family Distillery. The brand was created b Jett Brothers Distilling Company (DSP No.5 6th District Ky.) in Carrolton, Kentucky in the 19th century. Royce Neeley picked up the trademark and decided to revive the brand. He gave me a bottle of the whiskey while I was at the New Orleans Bourbon Festival in late March. He was rightly proud of this whiskey. It is a straight Bourbon finished for seven months in a Cognac barrel. The whiskey is at least four years old as it has no age statement, but I suspect that there is some older whiskey in the bottle. Matt and I sat down and tasted the whiskey the other day and we decided that it was good enough to be our whiskey of the month for April 2023. Here are our tasting notes.
Old Jett Brothers Bourbon Finished in Cognac Barrels
Proof: 109.9
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Corn, raisins, vanilla, pepper and oak wood.
- Matt: Kettle corn, oats, vanilla, marshmallows, raisins and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Corn, vanilla, apples, raisins, pepper and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the raisin flavor is enhanced and the vanilla becomes a rich French vanilla. Tasted with a pecan and it brings out a caramel apple flavor to join the party.
- Matt: Vanilla, raisins, buttered toast and oak wood. The dried cranberry brought out flavors of cooked fruit and tangerine. The pecan brought out flavors of a rich 90% cocoa dark chocolate and caramel.
Finish:
- Mike: Long with oak and pepper spice. The dried cranberry added some lingering sweetness of raisins and vanilla. The pecan made the finish very long and pleasant with oak, pepper and lingering apple notes.
- Matt: Long with oak and lingering raisin sweetness. The dried cranberry made the finish thicker with oak and raisins with lingering fruit notes. The pecan made the finish very long with oak, raisins and lingering dark chocolate.
I would pair this whiskey with a My Father The Judge cigar. The rich vanilla and chocolate in the smoke would pair well with the vanilla and spice in the whiskey.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller