BOTM, 2/08: WL Weller Special Reserve

What do you love about bourbon? Is it the flavor? What about the history behind your favorite brand? Or is it the memories of good times shared with friends and family over a bottle from your top-shelf collection? Well, there's lots of things to love about bourbon, and a few that come to mind are:

Quality - A good bourbon will balance grain character with just the right amount of wood to lend a satisfying taste, body and finish.

Availability - While we all cherish that rare gem that was expensive and/or hard to find, we want our favorites to be close at hand when we are ready for them.

Value - It's no secret to folks here that some of the best values often go overlooked by shoppers following the latest trend or rating.

Once again we celebrate February with a bourbon that's easy love: WL Weller Special Reserve. For about $12 you can taste love in a bottle. Still retaining the 7yo age statement, Buffalo Trace has gone to great lengths to ensure that this legacy brand lives up to its pedigree. Full-bodied and well balanced, WLWSR is one of the best values on the market. It's priced for dual use as a sipping bourbon, or as a mixer for your guests. Can you feel the love?

So join me in celebration of our romance with bourbon :toast:

:893drillsergeant-thSound off:893drillsergeant-th

I won't bore with my oft-told tale that this was my first 'favorite' bourbon. Of course, those 'first' bottles were S-W distillate from Louisville -- of which I still have a few -- and began my love of (nearly) all things Stitzel-Weller.
I don't have a current bottle in hand, but will pick one up as early as possible for a complete tasting, and report.
While, as appropriate in this thread, I'll emphasize the 7yo Special Reserve, I'll be able to compare the following W.L. Weller bottlings:

• 7yo/90 proof (Special Reserve, current Frankfort)
• 7/90 (Special Reserve, Louisville)
• 7/BIB (Special Reserve, 1949)
• 8/BIB (Special Reserve, 1950)
• 10/100 (Centennial/Louisville)
• 12/90 (current Frankfort)
• 12/90 (single-barrel, Stitzel-Weller)

Jeff, you've made me very (varied) happy!:grin: :toast:

(If any of you willing possessors of W.L. Weller 19yo is en route to Middle Tennessee in the near future, let me know and we'll arrange a top-to-bottom "Well, Weller, Wellest" Throwdown!)

I just got my second bottle of WLW SR. My favorite store has been out for a few weeks now but I did get one recently elsewhere.
I also left one more on the shelf now I think I'll go back for it.
It is to easy to drink, such a sweetheart of a wheater.

Jeff,

You said it well... a great value and a very, very nice bourbon. BT continues to deliver!

As has been often posted here, Texas has always been the biggest market for Wellers of all varieties. Its not uncommon to see Special Reserve as the well bourbon in many bars here. So I have this one quite often when I'm out with the boys. It's always what I order if it's the bar's well bourbon.

Randy

To me, WSR is everything good about wheated bourbon. If you want to open the mind of someone who thinks Maker's Mark is the only bourbon worth drinking, get them to try Weller Special Reserve. I liked it as SW whiskey, I liked it as Bernheim whiskey and I like it as Buffalo Trace whiskey. Especially for the price, you just can't go wrong. Maybe not life-changing, but a really enjoyable drink.

I have 3/4 of a bottle of Weller Antique 107, which I love.... curious about the Weller you have as BOTM.... I wanted so bad to go to the liquor store but I just bought two bottles yesterday! curious how this is re: Antique and maybe I can pick up a bottle tomorrow.........

Yet another selection not available in PA. There's always next month. I will have to be satisfied with my recent purchase of Weller Antique which is quite good. I have no doubt that the special reserve is equally as tasty

Okay, stopped by a local liquor store today and picked up the current Weller SR -- and couldn't resist buying the 1.75L, since wheaters are my favorite with cola.
So, from left, we have 7yo Bottled In Bond from 1949; UDV 7yo/90 from S-W/Old Fitzgerald; today's 7/90 from Buffalo Trace; and 8yo/BIB from 1950:
Attachment 5269

Of the two most recent, the Louisville nose is more powerful, though still subtle, while the BT version almost disappears. And, while both display that brown sugar fudge flavor, the older one is more of the 'scorched-in-the-bottom-of-the-pan' variety. Frankfort is sweeter. I'll take either.
Of the oldies, the 7yo has some old-growth oak eucalyptus to it, in both nose and palate, but glides across the tongue like silk. The sweetness remains, whether from the wheat or the wood. The 8yo is, quite simply, heavenly. This has some of the sharp spiciness most attribute to rye and find absent in wheaters, but I find characteristic of some top-quality Stitzel-Weller whiskeys. It is mostly anise/licorice, mostly in the finish, and offers a fine counter-balance to the through-and-through sweetness.
Interesting that Pappy marketed two 8yo BIBs -- this Weller and the Very Old Fitzgerald -- during the same time frame. I don't find the taste profile markedly different; could they have been for different markets?
Attachment 5270

Anyway, my bourbon journey has progressed considerably since I first discovered a fondness for Weller Special Reserve, without having progressed a step beyond that fondness. I could still enjoy this whiskey exclusive of all others, should it be the only one available to me.
Cheers.:toast:

Well I bit the bullet and went out to get the Weller Special Reserve. Here in Knoxville it cost me fifteen bucks including tax for the bottle. The big one was 30 including tax at a different store. I am getting a collection of bottles now, so got the 750.. due to space...

This bourbon is very good! I saw Tim's recommendation and almost got the big one too! but I hope they just don't run out of this ..... I had to go to three liquor stores before I could get it here...... I really like it and the price is right.