Wathen's Still Around?

[Old Lamplighter]

I ran across an "old" dusty of Wathen's yesterday that was bottled in San Jose back in '07. Have not seen one on a shelf in last 2-3 years. In fact, I almost forgot this bottle/label entirely. Is Charles Medley still bottling any of this or it is now defunct? I looked back on previous threads but could find no info more current than 2-3 years ago.

[T Comp]

I ran across an "old" dusty of Wathen's yesterday that was bottled in San Jose back in '07. Have not seen one on a shelf in last 2-3 years. In fact, I almost forgot this bottle/label entirely. Is Charles Medley still bottling any of this or it is now defunct? I looked back on previous threads but could find no info more current than 2-3 years ago.

It is still being sold and the last I looked at one it was a '10 bottling that was out on the shelves around here. I do note their web site looks out dated with reference to a new website coming 1/1/10...must be ageing in the barrel :grin: .

[silverfish]

I checked wine-searcher.com and got a number of results of stores

that list it in stock. Price seems to range between $24. - $30. so it

is still around in some places. Anyone's guess as to how old the the

bottles are, I s'pose.

[T Comp]

Gary Gillman bought a current bottle at Liquor World in Bardstown back in September. A few of us were in the store discussing its merits and agreed it tasted similar to an EC 12 only with less age and that not being a bad thing about it. I enjoyed my one bottle, if not a little pricey for its proof, unstated age (assumed about 7 years) and origin (assumed Heaven Hill).

[StraightBoston]

Wathen's is still around (good to say the same about you!)

[Gillman]

Indeed, I recall Jimmy gave a thumbs up on that buy and he was right. Rich-tasting with a slight oily quality.

Gary

[jburlowski]

Still some around here (No KY).

[Old Lamplighter]

Wathen's is still around (good to say the same about you!)

Yeah...I'm still around but very, very infrequently due to the Facebook Bacterium that has invaded my home PC...aka soylent green IMHO. Being heavily outnumbered by females in the house who constantly outflank me on the PC, hard to get here anymore. Plus, working out of town does not help either.

Anyhows, thanks for the info...glad it's still around. I might pick up that dusty one of these days when I get finished turkey and stagg hunting.

[DanG]

Around here, I've only seen bottles at Lynnway Liquors on Rte. 1A north of Boston. When it's there and I'm there, I usually buy the 1 or 2 bottles they have and they get restocked eventually. So presumably it's still being bottled! The big Binny's on South Jefferson in Chicago always seems to have it as well.

[ethangsmith]

Spotted a bottle in Maryland yesterday. Anyone know the distiller, where it was aged, or bottler of this whiskey? I'm thinking about picking up the bottle, but I don't want to get a bottle that's not good whiskey.

[T Comp]

Spotted a bottle in Maryland yesterday. Anyone know the distiller, where it was aged, or bottler of this whiskey? I'm thinking about picking up the bottle, but I don't want to get a bottle that's not good whiskey.

No one other than the Medley's can give you the correct answer to your first two questions. It is distributed and bottled now by Frank-Lin in San Jose California. It is believed that the switch from Medley's own distilled whiskey occurred somewhere around 2004 as discussed in this long ago closed thread. http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2611

Many believe the current source is Heaven Hill and based on my experience from one bottle I wouldn't disagree. Seems to have a lot of taste similarities to EC 12 only with 4 or 5 less years of wood. Also has that slight oily quality that Gary mentions which seems more a trait of Heaven Hill distilled whiskeys. Of course many of the finest palates can be wrong on where a whiskey is really from and till the Medley's fess up we won't know for sure.

[ethangsmith]

Interesting.

I wonder if there is continued activity at Medley. As someone said above, the website says that an update is coming in 2010. Here we go into 2012! If I recall too, somehow there was a link between Medley distillery and LDI and there is some confusion as to whether Medley was part of that sale or not?? Seems like an awful lot of unknowns.

Lastly, is Wathen's bourbon good stuff?

[cowdery]

The only confusion is that no one seems to know who bought Medley, although it has been sold and was sold before LDI. I know that neither of the companies in the LDI deal bought Medley, so Medley was not 'part' of either sale.

While Angostura owned Medley they fixed some roofs, got everything cleaned up, and repaired some of the racks in the warehouses. They have a still and a couple of mash cookers but that's about it. They need a boiler and fermenters, a mill, and probably a few other things. They don't have a bottling line but even if they started distilling, they wouldn't need to worry about bottling for at least four years and can always get contract bottling as close as Lawrenceburg, IN.

If someone had the money and wanted to get the place going they probably could be ready to go in a few months, but so far as I know nothing has happened there since about 2007, and nothing has been made there since 1992.

[ethangsmith]

That's weird how there is so much mystery surrounding it all. Oddly, on the Wathen's website, they have a photo labeled "Bourbon in the works" showing presumably fermenting mash.

See here: http://www.wathens.com/distillery.cfm

I wonder what that's all about. Weird. Just weird.

[cowdery]

What mystery? Those are old pictures. They had cameras in 1992, you know.

[ethangsmith]

Ha. This is true. I just figured it was a recent photo. I suppose I shouldn't have.

[cowdery]

As you can see, those fermenters are stainless steel, and they are still there, but Medley also had a half dozen or so cypress fermenters, which are the ones you see now on the Maker's Mark tour. Those need to be replaced.

[PaulO]

I have seen Wathen's in some of the better stores of central Indiana for years. Only the places with a big selection have it. I could never figure out who distills it. My memory of tasting it is vanilla, and maple. I also got the "oily" texture as thick mouth-feel.

[cas]

It was on the shelf at Binny's when I stopped in last night. $29 a bottle, I believe.

Craig

[T Comp]

It was on the shelf at Binny's when I stopped in last night. $29 a bottle, I believe.

Craig

Yup $29.99 to be exact and more importantly bottled on 12/7/11 per Charles Medley's signature of assurance...so Old Lamplighter you finally have an answer to your original question...yes he is still bottling. Okay whose gonna ask me at what Binny's . Probably nobody, so Niles :cool: .

[ethangsmith]

Just bought my bottle of Wathen's today. Bottled 1-12-11. Interesting stuff.