weller vs weller

[mross]

Has anyone compared Weller Antique 107 to Weller Special Reserve? What are your thoughts?

[Not_That_Fancy]

Excited to see Biba Joes reply to this!

[fishnbowljoe]

Well I reckon.....

 

Weller SR: Light, sweet, no brainer, easy drinker. It’s one of my go to bourbons. I have a bunch in the cabinet.

OWA: More depth of character and flavor, and of course more heat than Weller SR. I have a few in the cabinet.
 

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. 

 

Most of y’all thought I was gonna post a long winded response didn’t you? 

 

Biba! Joe

[Clueby]

Now ask him about blending them!

[fishnbowljoe]

38 minutes ago, Clueby said:

Now ask him about blending them!

 

[PaulO]

Back in the day, when I could find both without too much trouble, I much preferred the OWA.  BT claimed they were the same, except for proof (SR diluted to 90).  Several of us here were of the opinion, OWA diluted by ourselves to 90, still better than SR.  I'd believe Joe about whatever the Weller situation is nowadays.  

[webfoots]

Let’s take this all the way. How do you rank all the Wellers? 
 

It’s been a while for me since I’ve had any of them but I would say 12 is my favorite, followed by OWA and SR. Never tried WLW, FP, CYPB, or SiB

[fishnbowljoe]

4 hours ago, PaulO said:

I'd believe Joe about whatever the Weller situation is nowadays.  

Thanks PaulO, but to be honest, sometimes I just dunno any more. Things change rather quickly in the bourbon industry nowadays. Even though I maintain contact with the folks at BT, I try not to bug them too much. There’s a lot currently going on at the distillery, and I’m pretty sure that taking care of the “Weller Whore”  isn’t high on their list of priorities right now. 
 

On to the topic at hand. Most of y’all know I’ve had my fair share of Weller’s over the years. The only current ones I haven’t tried yet are the Single Barrel and Kosher iterations. A couple of my favorites are the 07 WLW, and the Binny’s Weller 12 from back in 2009. However, at the very top of my list are Joe’s 2018 Weller Blend, and of course, Joe’s Weller Blend, Gary’s Batch. Cheers Vosgar! I miss you brother. 
 

Joe

[clearmoon247]

9 minutes ago, fishnbowljoe said:

Thanks PaulO, but to be honest, sometimes I just dunno any more. Things change rather quickly in the bourbon industry nowadays. Even though I maintain contact with the folks at BT, I try not to bug them too much. There’s a lot currently going on at the distillery, and I’m pretty sure that taking care of the “Weller Whore”  isn’t high on their list of priorities right now. 
 

On to the topic at hand. Most of y’all know I’ve had my fair share of Weller’s over the years. The only current ones I haven’t tried yet are the Single Barrel and Kosher iterations. A couple of my favorites are the 07 WLW, and the Binny’s Weller 12 from back in 2009. However, at the very top of my list are Joe’s 2018 Weller Blend, and of course, Joe’s Weller Blend, Gary’s Batch. Cheers Vosgar! I miss you brother. 
 

Joe

What went into the Garys Batch?

[fishnbowljoe]

6 minutes ago, clearmoon247 said:

What went into the Garys Batch?

It’s a long story, which I’ll share. Let me first start be saying that there were reasons Gary was a BOTY, and was so highly regarded here. Although he could be a bit grumpy at times.  Hence his avatar.

 

Gary/Vosgar and I bowled together, and were good friends for a very long time. My son also worked with him for 9 or 10 years. Galvin0791 is my nephew Mike. He started getting into bourbon a few years ago. He’s a cigar guy like Gary was. It was a natural fit with the three of us. We kept each other informed if something of interest showed up at any local stores. We went to a few charity events/tastings together, and enjoyed getting together occasionally to share bourbons and smoke cigars, usually on Gary’s back deck or covered porch. Gary and I made the trip to KY together a number of times over the years, and Mike even got to join us once. We kind of kidded each other that if something happened to one of us, the other two would be the beneficiary of some good stuff. Gary would even occasionally “remind” me about all the Weller’s he had in his bunker. 
 

Sadly, Gary passed away on the 3rd of July. I got a call from his brother in law (also) Mike, two or three weeks later. He said he had a bunch of bottles for me and my nephew Mike. Gary had actually written down specific instructions pertaining to some of the bottles he had in his bunker. Mike and I ended up receiving quite a few bottles. Among these were some scotches/scotch samples that went to my nephew. There were also a few odds & ends samples, bottles and dusties, which we split between us. The vast majority of bottles though, were Weller’s. Gary had pretty much designated them all for me, but I made sure my nephew took some. Gary’s brother in law Mike also got a number of bottles. I also believe his other brother in law, Dan, received some bottles. Dan is a rye lover, so I think he probably got the ryes and some scotches. 

I received bottles of Weller 12, OWA, and a couple of SR’s. Among these were both old and new bottle/labels, a couple of old paper label bottles, and a few private picks. I made Gary’s Batch using the same ratios as my 2018 Batch, three parts OWA, one part Weller 12 and one part Weller SR. The only difference is that I used the old bottle/labels and older ps bottles that he left me.

With regards to Paul Harvey, “And now you know....the rest of the story.”  
 

Biba! Joe

 

[mross]

Thanks all, one of the reasons I was asking is the SR seems to be readily available while OWA is either gone or selling for around a Benjamin or 2.

[fishnbowljoe]

2 minutes ago, mross said:

Thanks all, one of the reasons I was asking is the SR seems to be readily available while OWA is either gone or selling for around a Benjamin or 2.

It’s pretty much the same thing here ross. For the most part, the SR used to show up on a semi-regular basis.  The price used to be decent at $25.99 a bottle, but it’s gone up. The last two I bought locally were $31.99 a bottle. I’m not really sure about the OWA and Weller 12. I haven’t seen any in my neck of the woods in quite a while, and I don’t exactly remember what the prices were. CRS disease rearing its ugly head.   IIRC, maybe $39.99 for the 12 & $49.99 for OWA, or vise versa. I’m sure those prices have gone up a lot since I last saw either one.  I say grab an SR if you can. If you like it, try to get more. If you don’t like it, no biggie.

 

Biba! Joe

[Clueby]

21 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

The only current ones I haven’t tried yet are the Single Barrel and Kosher iterations. A couple of my favorites are the 07 WLW, and the Binny’s Weller 12 from back in 2009. However, at the very top of my list are Joe’s 2018 Weller Blend, and of course, Joe’s Weller Blend, Gary’s Batch. Cheers Vosgar! I miss you brother. 

You aren't missing much with the Kosher version.  It's basically SR at 94 proof.

 

I have a Binny's OWA pick from sometime around 2014 or so.  I drank one and kept one.  At the time I thought it was the best OWA I'd ever had.  Will be interesting to revisit eventually.

 

I still need to do  your "three parts OWA, one part Weller 12 and one part Weller SR" blend.

[mross]

18 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

It’s pretty much the same thing here ross. For the most part, the SR used to show up on a semi-regular basis.  The price used to be decent at $25.99 a bottle, but it’s gone up. The last two I bought locally were $31.99 a bottle. I’m not really sure about the OWA and Weller 12. I haven’t seen any in my neck of the woods in quite a while, and I don’t exactly remember what the prices were. CRS disease rearing its ugly head.   IIRC, maybe $39.99 for the 12 & $49.99 for OWA, or vise versa. I’m sure those prices have gone up a lot since I last saw either one.  I say grab an SR if you can. If you like it, try to get more. If you don’t like it, no biggie.

 

Biba! Joe

Around here the SR is going for about 70. The disease is rampant.

[Bob_Loblaw]

On 11/1/2020 at 12:43 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

However, at the very top of my list are Joe’s 2018 Weller Blend, and of course, Joe’s Weller Blend, Gary’s Batch. Cheers Vosgar! I miss you brother. 
 

Joe

Great explanation on the Gary batch, what a fantastic idea that was and a great way to honor/remember your drinking buddy anytime you have a pour. 

 

Now, I'm curious, what is the difference between JWB and the '18JWB?  Or is that one proprietary info?

[Bob_Loblaw]

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Joe's description of the two.  WSR I find particularly delicious with a dash of orange bitters.  Quick and easy "cocktail"  WSR was a staple at the $17 price range and W107 was my go to party bottled at $19.99.  As of January 2019 they jumped to $29.99 and $49.99 respectively and I have not been a buyer.  Still enjoy both immensely, but when talking value there is just so much more competition.  I pass on both regularly (monthly), so if any established SB'er is really just going crazy trying to find either send me a PM. 

 

Side note, the wife has some of the W12 I opened for our move.  Loved it and asked for another.  I instead gave her a blind of W107 and W12.  She finished the W107 first so declared that the winner because she enjoyed it more, but then after returning to the W12 decided that one was still pretty fantastic.  I tend to agree and like both equally, it just depends on what I am in the mood for.

 

[fishnbowljoe]

28 minutes ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Great explanation on the Gary batch, what a fantastic idea that was and a great way to honor/remember your drinking buddy anytime you have a pour. 

 

Now, I'm curious, what is the difference between JWB and the '18JWB?  Or is that one proprietary info?

They are one and the same. I get lazy and sometimes forget the 2018. I made batches of my blend before 2018 using old bottle/label Weller’s, ps  bottles, or a mix of old, new and ps bottles. 2018 was when I made my first batch using all new bottle/ labels. I’ve called it 2018 ever since. FWIW, I‘ve added to the handle of my 2018 Blend a bunch of times over the last three years. If it gets below about 1/4 full, I start getting a little nervous. 
 

Biba! Joe

[fishnbowljoe]

3 hours ago, mross said:

Around here the SR is going for about 70. The disease is rampant.

I’ve seen it at “tater” stores for $69.99 and $89.99. Fortunately, I don’t visit the area where some of those stores are very often. For the most part, I avoid the local stores that gouge.

 

Joe

[Flyfish]

OWA was one of my top three regular pours when it was both readily available and only a teensy bit more than SR, Last time I saw a handle of SR I grabbed it because, even tho not OWA, it was still worthy of a casual sip.  But at $70, not even remotely interested.

[EarthQuake]

OWA is an above average bourbon for the price it used to cost, about $20-25 or so. It's a mediocre bourbon and poor value at the current $50-ish (at least here in IA) price though. WSR, similarly, was decent when it was a bottom shelf under $20 bottle. There's about 100 bottles I would rather drink than WSR. W12 is in my top 5 disappointing bottles of all time, mostly due to hype vs reality, it's not terrible by any means... but it's not as good as Very Old Barton or Wild Turkey 101.

 

I don't generally like wheaters, and don't think Buffalo Trace makes particularly good wheaters though, so take that with a grain of salt. (I'll take something from Heaven Hill if you force me to drink a wheater.) Swapping rye for wheat is a crime against humanity.

Edited November 10, 2020 by EarthQuake