Sunday, February 24, 2013

A couple of Wellers

W. L Weller Special Reserve 7yo 45%

Buffalo Trace bottles their wheated burbons under the Weller brand

As expected from a wheated bourbon this lacks the rye spicyness. What you get instead is a soft laid back bourbon

The nose is nothing spectacular, I mainly get the feeling of nosing a dusty solvent if that makes any sense. The palate is both soft from the burbon and has a little punch fr a slight alcoholic burn. The bourbon is slightly fruity, with a touch of blackberries. It has a little solvent burn on the finish

A really nice bourbon which easily beats a direct competitor like Maker's Mark, both on price and quality. It's probably made for both mixing and sipping neat, and I reckon it will do both jobs well

Rating 83/100


Old Weller Antique Original 107 Brand Single Barrel fr The Party Source 53.5%

It's quite normal that varius whiskyshops bottles single barrel of a common brand then just put a small sticker on the bottle to distuinguish it from the normal bottling line. This is probably done to avoid constant label approvals. The whiskey in the bottle is "restricted" to follow the label of the original age and ABV wise, the main difference is the ability of the bottler (shop) to select a good honey barrel for their own shops special bottling

This OWA 107 is a private barrel selected by a big supermarket style shop The Party Source, just over the water in Cincinati on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river. The Party Source has a selection of both bourbon and single malt, and also beer, wine and any other kind of spirit imaginable that makes it worth a considerable detour  for any whiskyfan. They have several private barrels and casks available. 

This is probably around the same age as the Special Reserve, so how will a special selected barrel, bottled at a higher strength do ?

The nose is fruitier and softer, smells a lot more of whiskey and I enjoy nosing this a lot more. The style is very similar, with the berry note more expressed. In general wheaters are sweeter, softer, more vanillaed and less woody than bourbons with a rye recipe in my opinion.

The palate is, despite the higher ABV, a lot more smooth and doesn't give you an alcohol burn. It sweet, and again I get the dusty feeling. The blackberry notes are more dominant. This is a very delicious bourbon. It's unbelievably you can something like this for just a few dollars above twenty

Rating 90/100 

2 comments:

  1. Excellent review, totally agree on all counts. I'm a big Weller fan, and try to pick up the 107 or the 12yo whenever I see it. It goes fast around here.

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  2. They are not that easy to find here, but 1 minute with google helps you. I think this single barrel was magnificient. I also tasted a 12yo from Julio's and I WISH I had a bottle of that :-)

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