Why isn't Old Fitzgerald better?

[funknik]

Gary,

I'm not into bashing bourbon labels for fun and I agree with you that context is everything . . . still, I think that for a sub-$20 wheated bourbon, you can do much better (and usually cheaper) than Old Fitz (WLWSR, OWA, hell, even HH distilled Rebel Yell) . . . Old Fitz is not sold in these parts aside from the VSOF (which I think is fine, but not as good as W12, incidentally), so I can't comment on the BIB, but they do seem to have the corner of the market on that: as far as I know it's still the only wheated BIB.

[rocky480]

It's interesting to me to read the different comments on OF.

My experience with the wide variety of bourbon out there is very limited compared to many people on here, and the only OF I've tried is a current version of the OFBIB. I know taste is an individual thing, but I've tried this one a few times, and I honestly don't know how I'll be able to finish the bottle. Maybe mine is just a bad one, but the bourbon basically overpowers and kills my sense of taste as soon as I sip it. It's a blast of an acidic wood taste that I just can't get past. Everything past that is just the heat from the alcohol. Adding a little water or a lot of water just took away the heat and left the awful taste. I haven't tried ice, but I'm not optimistic.

Since it's not too expensive, I'll probably try to find another bottle from a different retailer, sometime, but if this is any indication of what I can expect from OF, then none of the current versions will be on my bar.

Mike

[Gillman]

Well, Weller Special Reserve and OWA really are the only competitors in terms of class and price. I'll have to do a comparative tasting when I next get the chance! I was thinking too though of young rye-recipe bourbons, some even 3 years old, which sell for about the same as the basic Fitzgerald labels, I'd rate the latter over those. Always been a fan though of OWA and Special Reserve, good stuff.

Gary

[marco246]

Summoned the courage to open my new bottle of VSOF 12 last night and was vastly relieved to find not just a drinkable whiskey but a very good one, too. Hard to believe it is the same juice as 1849, except aged an additional 8 years. This goes some way toward ameliorating my disappointment with HH in their having produced such a weak specimen (1849) presumably for the bottom shelf. Anyway, I like the VSOF a little better than MM, which is my benchmark bourbon.

[Josh]

Summoned the courage to open my new bottle of VSOF 12 last night and was vastly relieved to find not just a drinkable whiskey but a very good one, too. Hard to believe it is the same juice as 1849, except aged an additional 8 years. This goes some way toward ameliorating my disappointment with HH in their having produced such a weak specimen (1849) presumably for the bottom shelf. Anyway, I like the VSOF a little better than MM, which is my benchmark bourbon.

[Stu]

I don't know whether I've got weird taste or if I've been lucky and had nothing but older bottlings of OF, but its one of my favorite wheaters. I also like MM and the van Winkle line better than the Weller line. I'm still not good at reading the bottom of bottles, so I may have had all old bottles. Maybe it's because I drink malt a lot, but I find my taste differs from the consensus a lot of times (Example: I love Basil Hayden).

[cowdery]

To each his own.

I love wheaters. Always have. Never really had a bad one. Take it back. Never had a bad one that wasn't in either a Rebel Yell or Cabin Still bottle.

Which, by the way, I love the name "Cabin Still" for a bourbon. Don't know why. Just do.

But I've never had a bottle of any Fitzgerald, Weller, or Maker's Mark that I couldn't drink.

Your mileage may vary.

[T Comp]

Originally Posted by T Comp

I have seen more BHC VSOF than current VSOF, and no wonder, as that juice is just bad, even if from DSP 16.

What?!?!

I have heard many say that the current VSOF is an abonimation, but never the other way around. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I'm defensive of the BHC VSOF because it's dear to my heart and I find it to be a tremendous whiskey, but still . . . I did a head-to-head of the

S-W VSOF 12 vs. the Bernheim with some whiskey people I rank as better tasters than myself and it was a unanimous vote that the BHC was something special and the Bernheim was fairly pedestrian.

I've also had it side-by-side with an Old Fitz BIB from the early 90's and found it superior in every way (except maybe proof :grin: ). Bottled in '95 has to put the VSOF as distilled around '83 . . . as I said, I am biased on this one, but I'm very surprised to hear it described as "bad". Specifically what about it offends you?

Ok -- just had to get that one out of my system.

[MikeK]

As I have written elsewhere, the current excellence of Van Winkle Lot B, which cannot possibly still be Stitzel-Weller whiskey, convinces me it is possible to produce wheated bourbon as well as Stitzel-Weller did somewhere else. I also consider the Weller SR and 12 to be superb, if perhaps not quite in Lot B's league.

Chuck,

I haven't had any Lot B in a while. In the past I found it to be good, but a step down from PVW-15, and for similar money. Do you find the current Lot B to be even better over recent years? And if so, are you raving about the current year release, or the past few years in general? (I find each years VW products vary noticibly in taste, so I always reference the bottle date code to buy the batches I like better)

Thanks!

[cowdery]

If not the current release, then the just previous one. All bottles from Binny's. Not dusties. Definitely current production. And they're just terrific. They are every bit as good as the Stitzel-Wellers I have, both SW Lot B and other SW.

Your mileage may vary.

[ratcheer]

Which, by the way, I love the name "Cabin Still" for a bourbon. Don't know why. Just do.

The old-time Cabin Still label was a commercial art masterpiece, too. I used to just look at it and daydream of the time and place it depicted.

I don't think I ever drank the whiskey, though.

Tim

[unclebunk]

If not the current release, then the just previous one. All bottles from Binny's. Not dusties. Definitely current production. And they're just terrific. They are every bit as good as the Stitzel-Wellers I have, both SW Lot B and other SW.

That's good news and should spark a few Lot B purchases among this crowd.:grin:

[callmeox]

If not the current release, then the just previous one. All bottles from Binny's. Not dusties. Definitely current production. And they're just terrific. They are every bit as good as the Stitzel-Wellers I have, both SW Lot B and other SW.

Your mileage may vary.

IIRC, these were the first Lot B bottlings with the .01 on the label part number. This signified the new self adhesive label which actually rides a little lower on the bottle than the label without the .01 on the part number.

The bottles that I have opened all had a wonderful cherry cordial quality to them.

The code printed on the glass is K1130807:07. Depending on how you parse that out, they were bottled in January or November of 08. So, are they Summer of 08 or Spring of 09?

Either way, I know that they were com the initial batch of the new label type.

[Josh]

Since I started this thing, I figured I better give it another shot.

When I started, Old Fitz BiB was by far my favorite of the current products.

But thanks to Gary, and some others, I picked up a bottle of the current VSOF.

When I opened it, I was a little scared. I was assualted by a sharp ethyl alcohol smell, like an old medicine cabinet. After I poured some into my HH Glencairn, the sharpness dissipated.

The nose transforms into something really great. For whatever reason, it makes me think of Christmas. Lots of spice, like an old timey hard sauce for pouring over plum pudding or mincemeat pie. Although I gave up on brandy years ago, it reminds me a lot of cognac on the palate. A really rich drink.

It bears little resemblence to any S-W I've had, for sure, but it's still a damn good whiskey.

I still think the 1849 and Prime are shite tho.