Old Fitz 1849 Nose Job

[scratchline]

Pulled an open bottle of Old Fitz 1849 off the shelf last night. It had about 3 oz left in the bottom. I took the cap off and took a whiff and.... ?!?!? Red fruit. Majorly. Pomegranate. Cherry. So much so that I wondered whether I had accidentally decanted grenadine into the bottle. I had my girlfriend check it out, and she got it too. Said it was like some red fruit syrup.

I have never had the smell of a whiskey change so drastically and specifically in the bottle. It was a fine nose to start with and it's only improved. This is the 8 yr label with an '02 bottom stamp. Regardless of who distilled this whiskey, I'm pleased to have a bottle or four backing it up and I'll be interested to see if the fruity nose emerges as they sit.

-Mike

[Gillman]

That is very interesting, that is exactly how my (circa-1982 distillation) tastes.

I think your whiskey probably is S-W, i.e., probably was 10 or more years old when bottled.

I have found that post-S-W OF just doesn't have the characteristics of the S-W era. It is not bad, but different, whatever the age or specific brand name.

Gary

[CrispyCritter]

My nose isn't really picking it up, but on my palate, I'm definitely getting a cherry-like impression (but also some vanilla) from my Old Fitz 1849 that I picked up last night.

S-W or not, it's mighty tasty... I think I'll have to swing by that store and get a couple more of these to bunker.

[Gillman]

I'll have to try the current one, it could well be even current production is being selected to match the profile S-W 1849 had. I am not sure I have ever bought the HH-prodcued 1849. Could it be, too, that stocks of S-W obtained on the sale were retained and are being mingled into bottles being sold today? Anyway I'll pick some up soon.

Gary

[Jake_Parrott]

I find a cherry element in virtually every S-W bottling.

[Gillman]

I don't disagree, I was referring, when I said 1849 was atypically fruity, to the taste of Old Fitzgerald (and the other S-W brands) in the heyday of Stitzel-Weller. The typical taste was IMO sweetish, pecan or toasty-like but not fruity.

However, the 1849 was at least 8 years old and (although I don't recall much about them) VOF and VVOF were even older.

The prolonged age and probably profile selection did result, at least in the case of 1849, in a marked fruity nose and taste.

Of course today, the surviving stocks of S-W whiskey are aged beyond what most of them would have been sold at under S-W operation, as specialties, these being the Pappy whiskeys at 15, 20 and 23 years of age. And these due to the prolonged age are indeed usually fruity in a cherry-like way.

Putting it another way, I think S-W 1849 was a progenitor of that type of taste, and maybe VOF was too although as I say I haven't had much experience with it or VVOF.

Still overall, I think the "classic" expression of Old Fitzgerald was a toasty, sweetish, peanut-like palate as found in various proof and age expressions of the day.

Gary

[jburlowski]

The lesson to be learned here is to not leave opened bottles opened for extended periods of time. It can clearly lead to unknown and unforeseen physical changes (including, but likely not limited to, changes in the sensation of taste).

Don't let this happen to you or to those you love... drink it now!

[Sijan]

I also noticed similar - although not as dramatic - sweet fruit/cherry notes in a long-open bottle of Old Fitz 1849 8 yo that I tasted this evening. It was also from 2002.