Weller 12 flying off the shelves?

[Tucker]

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

WSR was $9.99 (everywhere) not that long ago. W12 is $23.99 in most places near me, plenty available.

[cowdery]

Interesting thread. I'm amazed that paper label Weller is still available in New England. How many years has it been? This leads me to think large caches of stuff really do get forgotten for years in distributor warehouses. Amazing.

I also note how quickly this got to six pages when it is essentially just members reporting local conditions. That's a really great thing for this board to be able to do. Producers spend a lot of money to get that kind of information.

For my part, I've never had trouble finding Reserve, Antique and 12 in Chicago. I was in Binny's Lincoln Park last week and it was well-stocked with all three.

[sutton]

I also find this surprising around here - on another thread I commented that locally they were already down to OGD 80 - yet a short trip over the border found the 86. The fact that there is ANY paper Weller around when you'd be hard pressed to find current W12 consistently in stock you'd have to suspect this is just lost cases in a distributor warehouse. This is why we need direct shipping in MA!

[cowdery]

If they were that sloppy with lettuce they'd have to throw the whole shipment away but they can get away with it with whiskey.

[squire]

Sloppiness is an excuse for a few cases going astray ever now and again.

[Wryguy]

Just to be clear I've found only 1 paper label WSR in MA, and the owner of the store said that he had found it buried behind some other stuff in his storeroom and had just put it out for sale. It was just a lucky find. New Englanders drink HARD and certain stock turns over rapidly, but for some reason not the Wellers in my neck of the woods. And if you don't believe me on New England's love of booze, check out this article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/12/28/25-drunkest-cities-2012-from-milwaukee-to-burlington-vermont.html#0a4c906c-4885-4f15-b035-df218a31bb19

I think it's dumb that Hartford and New Haven are lumped together, but there are 5 New England cities in the Top 25 for 2012!

[sutton]

I suppose that is why dusty hunting around here is so pointless ...

[cowdery]

To quote Lady Bracknell, "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."

[Jackinbox]

I've seen a few handles of the paper-labeled WSR in the past few days, but have yet to find a paper bottling of W12 or OWA.

[T Comp]

I've seen a few handles of the paper-labeled WSR in the past few days, but have yet to find a paper bottling of W12 or OWA.

And you will have a very hard time finding a paper W12 as it was a good 3 to 4 years before OWA and WSR became paperless in '09. The infamous '06 Everett's W12 bottling was paperless.

[smknjoe]

I knew it had to have been before OWA and WSR. Thanks Thad!

[Jackinbox]

And you will have a very hard time finding a paper W12 as it was a good 3 to 4 years before OWA and WSR became paperless in '09. The infamous '06 Everett's W12 bottling was paperless.

Ok, that's good info to know. I'm assuming there's nothing all that special about any of the WSR bottles post-1999?

[P&MLiquorsEric]

Interesting thread. I'm amazed that paper label Weller is still available in New England. How many years has it been? This leads me to think large caches of stuff really do get forgotten for years in distributor warehouses. Amazing.

I also note how quickly this got to six pages when it is essentially just members reporting local conditions. That's a really great thing for this board to be able to do. Producers spend a lot of money to get that kind of information.

For my part, I've never had trouble finding Reserve, Antique and 12 in Chicago. I was in Binny's Lincoln Park last week and it was well-stocked with all three.

It goes to show that BT is keeping the places with very high volume (Chicago) supplied.

As much as Kentucky is the homeland, we are not a high volume area. Chicago has twice as many people as the entire state of KY. While KY might consume more bourbon per capita, we are still a drop in the proverbial bucket.

One of the old pogue family that frequents my store told me that they (pogue) sell more bourbon in one square mile of NYC than they do in the entire state of Kentucky.

[squire]

Wow, when you think about it that makes sense.

[T Comp]

Ok, that's good info to know. I'm assuming there's nothing all that special about any of the WSR bottles post-1999?

[squire]

Ah, the plot thickens, as they say, I really don't care so long as the whisky tastes good.

[ChainWhip]

Chuck in his blog a few years back wrote about it.

"The actual successor to Stitzel-Weller, arguably, is Heaven Hill's Bernheim Production Facility, which was designed by the owner of both plants to be the successor, and which was set-up by Ed Foote, the last Master Distiller at Stitzel-Weller.

[Jackinbox]

Not necessarily. One of my favorite OWA's ever had an '04 embossed on the bottom. Okay, so 1999 is a seminal year...7 years after S-W closed, the year of the Diageo/United Distillers sell off of brands and Bernheim. And also the year Ed Foote retired as Master Distiller from Bernheim who was also the last at S-W. On my experience some of the early made Bernheim wheat whiskey is great stuff and better than what was coming out of S-W at the end.

And with OWA and WSR your dealing with age stated bottles so the bourbon can be older but they're not single barrels or bonded. In other words who knows what barrels were getting mixed into the dump to create the brand profile.

Chuck in his blog a few years back wrote about it.

"The actual successor to Stitzel-Weller, arguably, is Heaven Hill's Bernheim Production Facility, which was designed by the owner of both plants to be the successor, and which was set-up by Ed Foote, the last Master Distiller at Stitzel-Weller.

Although Buffalo Trace produced a little bit of wheated bourbon prior to acquiring the W.L. Weller brand in 1999, it didn't produce enough to fully support the brand and even today a lot of the Weller on shelves is Bernheim whiskey. So is some of the Van Winkle. Of course, all of the Old Fitzgerald on shelves today, except for the odd Stitzel-Weller dusty, is from Bernheim, which Heaven Hill acquired along with the Old Fitzgerald brand."

[MyOldKyDram]

Was out and about for hours today and saw nary a drop of the stuff.

[theglobalguy]

Wow, when you think about it that makes sense.

Minus the Tourism bureau in KY hyping up visiting "bourbon country" i'd agree. I can only say if i flew to scotland (ok, scotch isn't exactly my thing, but follow along) i'd be beyond confused if the distilleries were out of stock of their mid shelf brands.

One thing to not have the special releases (4R seems to make up for that with Private Selection releases at a really fair rate, and HH by charging 2x MSRP so those with deep pockets can grab) but to be out of stock across the range just seems like bad planning.

[smknjoe]

More great information. Thanks for that! So if you were hunting, what would you look for on the bottle to determine whether it's worth a purchase? The numbers stamped on the bottom of the bottle?

We are getting into dusty hunting territory here. I would ask this question in the dusty hunting tips thread, but in short yes. The dates on the bottom are indicators of the bottling date.

...and it's off-topic anyway.

[Jackinbox]

We are getting into dusty hunting territory here. I would ask this question in the dusty hunting tips thread, but in short yes. The dates on the bottom are indicators of the bottling date.

...and it's off-topic anyway.

My apologies for derailing.

Back on topic, has it ever been confirmed how often W12 is bottled? I'm definitely going to ask that during my next visit to BT.

[cowdery]

This was the Bernheim distillery that was built in 1996 that HH acquired after the fire then (probably stating the obvious). Do you guys know if PHC10 was distilled @ Bernheim?

Every drop of it. That was the idea. HH never made a wheater in Bardstown so acquiring OF and Bernheim gave them their first experience with it. The PHC wheater was from the first batch made by Parker and Craig Beam (mostly Craig, truth be told) at Bernheim.

[smokinjoe]

Great stuff, Thad. Thanks for continuing to corral widespread info, and bringing it to light when needed.

:toast:

[balassit]

Looks like a shipment has just landed here. I picked up 3 while out and about today. Price has gone up some where I buy. Got it for $23 last year, $28 this year. Getting to the point where it is not longer considered a value bourbon.