Trey Zoeller

Trey “Mad Scientist” Zoeller and his father, Charles ‘Chet’ Zoeller, founded Jefferson’s Bourbon in 1997. Their family whiskey tradition can be traced to Zoeller’s 8th generation grandmother, Marian McLain, who was arrested in 1799 for the ‘production and sales of spirituous liquors.’

Trey admits he did not set out to be a bourbon maker. As a Kentuckian, ‘everyone drinks bourbon.’ However, he noticed during his travels and relocation to other areas of the country, very few people were drinking bourbon.

During one fateful overseas trip, Chet saw an airline magazine ad selling a single barrel of Bushmills Irish Whiskey. Of course, Trey and his friends traveled to Ireland, bought a barrel, and bottled it. Trey, then in his 20s, thought, why not do the same for bourbon? With bourbon sales flat (and declining) at the time, many distilleries were eager to sell their barrels. He picked the best he could find, and his first purchase was 400 barrels last distilled by the Stitzel-Weller distillery (think Pappy Van Winkle at the time). He began artfully blending on his own, aging whiskey in rum, cognac, and cabernet casks, which is now up to about 30 labels.

In the early days of the bourbon industry, bourbon was shipped from Kentucky to the ports of New Orleans and continued its journey up north to New York for shipment across the globe. While aboard a friend’s ship, Trey’s curiosity and experimental mindset came into play. He watched the whiskey swirl in his glass. He thought, how would a barrel react while aging at sea? The constant movement and extreme temperatures completely transformed the whiskey. Trey was going to recreate that journey exactly. He strapped two barrels of the finest bourbon available into a boat, and floated it down the river from Louisville to New Orleans, where it will then continue on to Key West and then finally to New York.

Trey has now transported hundreds and hundreds of barrels around the world’s oceans in special shipping containers, with each voyage crossing the equator 2 times, and stopping at 25 ports on 5 continents. Jefferson’s is now on its 30th voyage.

Why the name “Jefferson’s Bourbon”? Trey explains that Thomas Jefferson symbolizes American history, integrity, tradition, as well as experimentation. Though Jefferson didn’t drink bourbon, he repealed the whiskey tax. Jefferson was also instrumental in expanding bourbon in the US. Trey recently broke ground on a new $270 million facility (the Jefferson Bourbon Distillery) in Lebanon, Kentucky, which will be the “greenest distillery in the U.S.,” proclaims Trey. This was made possible by the Pernod Ricard purchase in 2019.

Trey’s focus is more on the finish and maturation processes versus grain, mash or distillation. He replies: “When you change the environment, you change the whiskey in the barrel. It’s born with the same science of distillation yet it can become so different. Climate change, environment and agitation changes the whiskey.

The more extreme the weather, the better. The youngest whiskey we work with is 4 years old but most is six years old. The sweet spot is six to eight years old.”

Trey Zoeller, now 56, was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2023, with his father Charles ‘Chet’ Zoeller.

Contributed By: Joe Grimoldi, Cordova, Tennessee

REFERENCES:

https://stories.wynnlasvegas.wynnorigins.com/stories/meet-the-maker-jeffersons-master-blender-trey-zoeller/

https://jeffersonsbourbon.com/research-and-development/

https://jeffersonsbourbon.com/our-story/

https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/trey-zoeller-jeffersons-bourbon-interview

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hudsonlindenberger/2022/05/10/breaking-the-rules-how-jeffersons-bourbon-founder-

trey-zoeller-blended-his-way-to-success/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuB9utbsFqY&ab_channel=BourbonPursuit

https://thewhiskeylifestyle.com/the-whiskey-lifestyle-qa-jeffersons-bourbon-founder-trey-zoeller/