Weller 12 flying off the shelves?

[michang5]

Auughhhh! Panic back on!

[Old Dusty]

During a visit to the BT distillery in late May, we were told that Weller 12 is in short supply. The tour guide (Freddie) hinted at the probability of continued short supply as more barrels are diverted to other products. We found none in KY during our trip. There are some stores in Indy with plenty in stock while others have not replenished their empty shelves.

mbroo5880i to the white courtesy phone please. You obviously did not get the memo. THERE IS NO WELLER HERE. All you all might check Illinois or Michigan. Maybe Wisconsin. Indiana is plum out. It's gone. Nothing to see here. Come back next May for the 500.

[tylermke]

mbroo5880i to the white courtesy phone please. You obviously did not get the memo. THERE IS NO WELLER HERE. All you all might check Illinois or Michigan. Maybe Wisconsin. Indiana is plum out. It's gone. Nothing to see here. Come back next May for the 500.

As far as I can tell, Wisconsin got literally 25 bottles and all sold out in early June. I know a few places in Illinois which still have stock, but WI will have to wait...

[WAINWRIGHT]

As far as I can tell, Wisconsin got literally 25 bottles and all sold out in early June. I know a few places in Alaska which still have stock, but WI will have to wait...

There,I fixed that for you.:grin:

[clingman71]

Ky isn't completely dry, I picked up a bottle in northern ky last week for $23.99.

[GaryT]

I'm hoping to find one in OK next week on a visit to the in-laws. Mainly because I really need something to look forward to with this trip

[jeffrey r]

Weller 12 is not readily available in NY/NJ, and I don't frequent the stores that do carry it enough to get a good read on supply and demand. That said, I've compiled a stash of 12 bottles, which for SB blend purposes really means double that. So I should be fine for a good long while.

[IronHead]

What he said. There is no Weller 12 in Kentucky at present. Almost as hard to find as PVW. Crazy.

I picked up a 1.75 last week in L'ville.

[Kyjd75]

Individual stores may still have some here and there, but there is none available at the distributor level in Ky.

[DBM]

This is an interesting thread because it highlights the variance between regions, states and even cities. With a few exceptions of really rare stuff, just remember that most of the variance is created (caused?) by distributors, most of whom are unscrupulous businesses with no more ethical value than the Al Capone's of the prohibition era. They just do it legally now.

[tanstaafl2]

Meandering through stores around Atlanta, I haven't seen it in the past month or two (although I can't say I've been specifically looking for it).

Saw a fair amount of W12 in stock in my last pass through several regular stores in Atlanta yesterday. Ended up mostly buying beer though yesterday. Before I knew it I had a case plus of different things from Dogfish Head, Founders, a new collaboration between Boulevard and Sierra Nevada and a few others.

Like I need more beer!

[suntour]

I came to bourbon from the craft brew world, tanstaafl2. Man, you should see my beer bunker. Puts my whiskey collection to absolute shame.

To keep things on-topic: I know that it is not a direct substitute, but in my desperation for finding W12 I picked up a bottle of Old Fitz 12. It is very delicious, particularly to these taste-buds that have never been sullied by true-blue Stitzel-Weller juice. Vatting it with OWA was also extremely nice. I look forward to getting some W12 at some point and doing a side-by-side and blind tasting.

[VAGentleman]

Guess I got lucky, while on business in Cali last week I found a W12 in a Bevmo for $34. Of course it went home with me

[jtgraves]

michang, I just found this cache of W12s near campus.

But i also found this OWA today, and that may be of even more interest to you:

[Restaurant man]

I wouldn't buy any of that stuff if I were you. If I were you I'd leave it there and PM

restaurant man as to its exact location :shiggles:

[jtgraves]

I wouldn't buy any of that stuff if I were you. If I were you I'd leave it there and PM

restaurant man as to its exact location :shiggles:

If I find myself heading to ATL any time soon, I'll be sure to packa couple in my suitcase. Unfortunately, the closest I think I'll be anytime soon is in Delaware in August.

[Trey Manthey]

Seems to be quite plentiful in the NOLA area. I even found a cache of the old embossed wheat stalks bottles at one store. I guess that might just mean that it's not a fast seller, as I understand those bottles came out in 2006ish.

[PaulO]

In the past couple weeks, I've seen W12 on shelves in KY, and IN. I had an experience recently. I made a special trip to a store in Indy that usually has one of the better selections, and sometimes their own single barrel OWA (the main reason for the trip). Anyway, I got there to discover the bourbon shelves about 80% empty. The only stuff they had left was some bottom shelf stuff, and some NDP products. So then I decided to go look at a large store I had passed before, but never checked out. Everything was well stocked, and even some good deals. It just goes to show how different two stores in the same town can be.

[michang5]

Thanks, jtgraves! As I suspected, the empty shelves I first saw were not harbingers of doom. I can hold off on going into bunker mode for awhile.

Question... What is the significance/difference with the bowed bottle of OWA 107? I see that it has 7-year age statement and older bottle and label. Current stuff has lost the age statement. Better juice?

[jtgraves]

Question... What is the significance/difference with the bowed bottle of OWA 107? I see that it has 7-year age statement and older bottle and label. Current stuff has lost the age statement. Better juice?

[zillah]

I stock on Weller 12 from here whenever I make it home to New York: http://www.winebazaar.com/

Cheapest in the state I believe. I cleared them out when bottles were $20.

[rod]

Basically the age statement is the difference. From what I understand, the current OWA is between 5-6yr, and based on a recent taste test there is a difference, though not as dramatic as I'd thought. However, the younger the juice in the OWA bottles gets, the more dramatic that difference will be. I'm guessing the NAS one I picked up for comparison was likely a 6yr.

[Kalessin]

From my unscientific observations of local package stores *, most Massachusetts bourbon drinkers don't seem to know about Weller 12 (or much about Weller at all). W12 was nearly invisible, and some appeared last year and this year, but it doesn't seem to be flying off the shelves. Weller isn't usually carried in any of the smaller stores, or any of the stores that don't carry "interesting" variety.

* The term "package store" is slowly and sadly disappearing with time around here. As is much of the old Dorchester/Southie slang: "I'm going down to the spa next to the packy for a meatball spucky and a bottle uh tonic," translates to "I'm going down to the convenience store next to the liquor store for a meatball sub and a bottle of soda."

Edited June 28, 2013 by Kalessin

[Wryguy]

Weller 12 with the embossed wheat still in plenitude around these parts. Sometimes it's as cheap as $20. I've picked up paper label WSR in MA, so it's not a new entry in the state, but Weller products are few and far between at times and don't seem to move very well. I prefer OWA greatly to Weller 12.

[GaryT]

I spotted some W12 today in Atlanta (at least a handful of bottles). They were trying to move WSR like no one's business - on sale for $10.99