Weller Antic 19yrs

[Creggor]

Need some comments and opinions and general info on this product. Recently
I ordered a bottle of the 19 yr old Weller Antique. (hope I have this right)
It came recomended to me. I do not have the bottle in hand as it must be sent
to me. I have heard that Buffalo Trace bought the lable for this product. I have
seen the Weller Centenail and a couple other Weller products have been scored
quite well. I paid $45 for the bottle. Being rather new to the real finer points
of Bourbon I would appreciate some advance warning on what I have coming.
Also have A.H Hirsch 20yr Pappy Van Winkle 15 & 20 yr Family reserve and
Buffalo Trace Eagle Rare 17Yr. Don't get me wrong I have enjoyed Bourbon for
some time, Now I am trying to really learn about all the finer points that
this fine spirit has to offer. Thanks in advance for any comments. Creggor

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Creggor you've come to right place! Take some time and read through some of the past threads that intrest you. In so doing you will learn much. All of the bourbons you have mentioned are highly recomended by one forum member or another. Just don't sit there! DIRNK IT MAN DRINK IT!

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hi Craig,

Well, you may be new the finer points of bourbon, but you sure know how to pick some great examples. I can see we won't be reading a lot of posts from you on "best cheap bourbons" :-))

Okay, let's see... you paid too much for the 19 year old Weller (unless that included shipping). It should be about 39.95 in most places, less in some. Most people would have a hard time finding a better bourbon, but there are some that are right up there with it, and you've got 'em. Buffalo Trace does own the brand, now, and if you look through the past messages here you'll find a lot of good information from Ken Weber. Ken's the brand mangager for Buffalo Trace and is intimately familiar with Weller (and Eagle Rare and Sazerac Rye as well). He's also one of the most straightforward and informative people you'll ever "meet". Don't pay much attention to the subject lines; we tend to ramble a lot. Do a search on what you want to find. And let us know what you think of those bourbons!

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[Ken Weber]

Nice selection of bourbons! Since we make both the Weller and the Eagle Rare, of course I am going to applaud your selections. I do want to clarify something however. The 19 year old is not technically known as "Antique". You see, we have Weller Special Reserve and Antique 107. Both of these brands are seven years old, so why is one "Special Reserve" and the other "Antique"? In my opinion, it is unfortunate marketing. When we bought the brands, we bought the names, and are stuck with them. Don't get me wrong, both are fine bourbons, it's just that the names are inappropriate. Special Reserve was just that when it was first introduced. Now that we have a 10 year, 12 year, and 19 year old product, Special Reserve could be better used on one of them. Likewise, our current "Antique" (or old Weller) is somewhat misnamed. Being the same age as the Special Reserve, I can not for the life of me figure out why it was called Antique.
Anyway, I will now step down from my soapbox. Just so you know, we have been making Weller for several years. As a matter of fact you would be surprised at some of the labels we touch somewhere along the production chain! Our target shelf price for the 19 year old is $34.99 to $39.99. I must admit that $37.99 is the lowest price I have actually seen. Once you try it, let me know if you think $45 was too much.
If you can, compare the Weller to the Eagle Rare. Weller is a wheated bourbon and Eagle Rare uses rye as the short grain. The tastes will be miles apart. This will be an insightful lesson and will reveal where your taste lies. If you had the Sazerac Rye, you could then compare those two with a true aged rye whiskey (not bourbon).
I look forward to reading what you have to say about all of the brands.

Ken

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Ken,
The name "Antique" comes from the early 1950's when most bourbon was being sold as 4 YO bourbon. A 7 YO bourbon was "Antique". What you may not know is that Weller Antique was released as a "Barrel Proof" bourbon and is the first ever bourbon sold in this manner. In the early 1950's Stitzel-Weller was putting bourbon in the barrel at 107 proof. It would come out slightly higher and they would cut it back down to 107 for bottling the first ever "Barrel Proof" bourbon, Weller Antique.

Mike Veach

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The early bottles were not called "Antique". That was added later. The label originally read "Old Weller - The Original 107 Proof". The current label, which is a replica, reads "Old Weller Antique - Original 107 Brand", although it's still 107 proof. We have a sealed bottle of the original version; it's one of the few sealed bottles in our collection. And it will only remain sealed until we get together as planned with Ward Deters (Sally Campbell's son and Pappy Van Winkle's great grandson) and his wife, and hopefully Sally and Julian too. If Ward has an already-open bottle, we'll swap him straight across for ours so he can add it to the collection he's building. If not, then we intend to open ours on the spot and offer everyone a drink before returning it to our Old Weller shelf. And I suspect it's likely that it will stop at Mr. Veach's before heading north as well :-))

Click on the link in the message header to see a photo.

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey