Old Fitz, staring up at me from below

[juliusrocco]

So, whenever I'm at the local liquor store, there it is, on the bottom shelf, perched next to Ten High and a plastic jug of something labelled as Olde Bourbon (btw, what is that Olde Bourbon? Who makes it and is it any good? It's awfully cheap). It's the 1.75 litre jug of Old Fitz and it's counterpart, Old Fitz BIB. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that the BIB would be the better of the two, but it's so much darn more expensive (~$22 for the regular Old Fitz vs. ~32 for the BIB per 1.75 litre), mostly due, I'm sure, to Connecticut state liquor taxation (and I just don't get to New Hampshire as much as I'd like. Tax free liquor laws and convenient liquor warehouses located at the Massachusetts and Maine borders, open 7 days a week thank you very much, for the uninitiated).
Anyway, where does regular ol' Old Fitzgerald rank in bourbonia? What is it most similar to? Any commentary on the lines of "better than X but worse than Y"?
I'll add that I'm a big fan of the Van Winkle line (when it's available and affordable) and most of the other agreed upon favourites, but do enjoy the everyday pours of OGD (regular and BIB), the errant Wild Turkey bottle, and yes, even that rascally Ezra Brooks (whose 15 YO Ezra B was quite a surprisingly good drink), my father-in-law's old standby.
At any rate, I've heard much commentary on the VSOF or the Old Old Fitz or the BIB (are these different products or the same?), but am curious as to where the plain old, regular Old Fitzgerald ranks. Taste, comparison, placement, worthiness.



J. Rocco
CT Shoreline, USA

[cowdery]

Ah, one of my favorite subjects, about one of my favorite bourbons.

Simple answer is, if you like Maker's Mark, you'll like Old Fitz Prime. ("Prime" is what folks call the standard 80 proof OF.) You may even like it better and it's certainly cheaper. The BIB is even better. In fact, it is one of my favorite bourbons at any price.

With a few exceptions, all of the Van Winkle bourbons are from the same stock as the Old Fitz.

By all means, bend over and buy it.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://cowdery.home.netcom.com>--Chuck Cowdery</A>

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The very best bourbon I have ever drank was a 15 year old bottled in bond Old FGitzgerald (Thanks to the Van Winkle family for making this nectar of the gods).
Mike Veach

[vasshopper]

I agree with Chuck and Mike, OLD FITZ 100* is where its at cause, like MR. VEACH said nectar of the gods. Be careful of the #s on the label. The #16 tastes better than the ones with the #16&24 and forget about the #s1&31 on the other bottlings. this is just my own opinion for what its worth. ENJOY--Life is good--Den

[Kauf]

Den,
Where would I find the #16 on the Old Fitzgerald 100 label?
Thanks,
Bob Kaufman

[vasshopper]

Hi Bob
L /RH corner of the front label.--den

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Ditto. I moved to Texas a few years ago (where I can't find it) from Central Illinois and this is one bottle that always makes the flight home. Old Fitz BIB is da bomb babeeee