Old Weller Antique

When you’re a Bostonian, you know about Kappy’s. They’ve been a family-owned business since the 1940’s. So while driving by Kappy’s Fine Wine & Spirits – Medford I was fortunate to find a store pick of Old Weller Antique, distilled at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, in Kentucky, owned by the Sazerac Company, Inc.

Buffalo Trace is perhaps the oldest continuously operating distillery in the United States. Owned by the Sazerac Company.

Aged for 7 years, sold at 107 proof, this bourbon comes from the same distillery, barrels, and mash bill as the famed Pappy Van Winkle.

Appearance: dark auburn color.
Nose – caramel, perhaps a hint of orange?
Palate – this is one full and rich bourbon. Almost fruity, perhaps a hint of vanilla. You can taste the oak. Smooth & easy to drink, with very little burn. And I am sensing a sweetness that I don’t get with a lot of whiskeys: This is likely due to it being a wheater bourbon, one in which wheat replaces the rye as the second most common grain.

I’m a proponent of recommending other blogs: if you like this bourbon then I suggest reading A Large Scale Tasting Of Dusty Old Weller Antiques 1998-2008 Tasted Blind & Compared With The Current Stuff., from The Coopered Tot. Great article!

This is one of a family of wheated bourbons from Buffalo Trace:

W. L. Weller Special Reserve, 90 proof
Old Weller Antique, 107 proof
W. L. Weller 12 Year, 90 proof
William LaRue Weller (proof varies year-to-year)

On a related note I had a great time at a whiskey tasting from Buffalo Trace Distillery. We tried four bourbons and two ryes: Buffalo Trace Bourbon, OWA, Eagle Rare, Sazerac Rye, Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, Colonel E. H. Taylor Straight Rye, Bottled in Bond