Wathens available again!

[MarkB]

Hello there, bourbon brethren. I noticed that Wathens is available again after a fairly long stretch where it was off the market. Anyone had a chance to try this new bottling, know anything about it? And most importantly... is it as good as the previous batch?

[TNbourbon]

I have seen two 2004 batches -- one at Christmastime dated July, and another en route to the Sampler dated October.

I have a couple of '97s on my shelf along with a 2003 (none currently open), and the latter is much darker -- which makes me wonder if each successive batch is older (anybody know whether Mr. Medley has put his stock in stainless, or is it still in barrels?).

[bobbyc]

(anybody know whether Mr. Medley has put his stock in stainless, or is it still in barrels?).

While we are asking questions, and possibly one who knows the answer to that one might know the answer to this, What happened to the 100 or so barrels of Mellow Mash that Buddy Thompson kept for himself as he disposed of Glenmore, that was about 20 years old a few years back?

and the latter is much darker --

I must get a bottle of that open and soon, Wathens as it was, was a favorite of mine and the possibility of more age, particuliarly if a subsequent improvement is involved, might make a fertile field of bourbon to be gleaned.........

Such colorful language, Damn, it won't get me BOTY........ wait a minute , I already was......

[Rughi]

Fresh New Wathen's,

dated 3-21-05 Barrel 228

This bottle has no age statement, but does read:

Wathen's

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Single Barrel

Eight Generations

250 Years

On the back:

Bottled by Charles Medley Distillery San Jose, CA

Distilled in Kentucky

Are the contents of this bottle in the line of earlier Wathen's discussed on the forum?

This is the first bottle of Wathen's I've seen, but earlier bottlings seemed to have a following.

-Roger

[TNbourbon]

Well, I've spotted some 2001 and 2002 bottlings around here recently -- I sense the germination of a Wathen's vertical-tasting seed taking root, which may ripen about Festival time. We'll see.

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Fresh New Wathen's,

dated 3-21-05 Barrel 228

Yep, and some of these managed to find their way over the Atlantic. One bottle (my first ever) is heading for this household and should be with me sometime next week.

This parcel also includes my first ever bottle of OF Birthday Bourbon. To say that I´m excited would be an understatement.

[Rughi]

Are you proposing

rigorous testing and evaluation of at least one bottle by an esteemed panel in an appropriate multi-sided and covered exterior venue.

as Chuck put it?

Because that sounds like a good idea to me.

By the way, this bourbon is rich, thick, and smooth. Yowza it's good. I haven't had earlier bottlings of this brand, but I doubt what I got is a young source filling in for the product of a few years back about which I've been reading.

-Roger

[dgonano]

During the Sampler I purchased a bottle ( barrel 202; 10/06/04 ). Also have one from a few years ago ( barrel 108; 05/21/01 ). Both are very similar in color. Neither are opened but September is fast approaching.

[TNbourbon]

I currently have bottles from Barrel 10 (3/27/1997) -- this is the bottling the Regans use in "The Bourbon Companion" tasting -- and 146 (2/7/2003). The others I've seen around are from 140-ish barrels, too. So, we seems to have some gaps covered, and others to fill.

[BourbonJoe]

The new stuff is a 94 proof single barrel which is 10 years old. I never tasted the "old stuff", but in a recent tasting in our Bourbon Club, it blew the doors off of Thedford and Heaven Hill.

[TNbourbon]

The new stuff is a 94 proof single barrel which is 10 years old...

Does the labeling now carry an age statement? None of the bottles I have or have seen do so.

[Rughi]

I can't find an age statement for my bottle, from barrel 228, bottled on 3-21-05.

-Roger

[BourbonJoe]

Tim,

There is no age statement on the bottle, but if you contact the distillery they will tell you that it is 10 years old.

Joe

[TNbourbon]

Well, a Joe suggested, I emailed the Medleys and asked about provenance and age. They did not divulge the age, but did dispel some suspicions that this is/was Yellowstone/Glenmore bourbon. Here is the entire text of the response:

"Tim -

Wathen's Kentucky Bourbon is not, nor has been, from Yellowstone/Glenmore distilleries. I do not know of any brand to direct you to if you are seeking product from that distillery.

Thanks.

SAM Medley

8th Generation Distiller

Wathen's Kentucky Bourbon"

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Wathen's Kentucky Bourbon is not, nor has been, from Yellowstone/Glenmore distilleries

Interesting. Somehow I regarded it as an established fact that at least the early bottlings was the real thing. What happened then, to the barrels that Charles Medley were supposed to have retained for himself?

Got my bottle earlier this week, by the way (older than I thought, 'handbottled 4-30-02). I have to say that it showed more than just a little resemblance to 10yo AAA. To pass a fair judgment I have to spend some more time with it, though.

[bobbyc]

So there's a chance it's been Heaven Hill bulk whiskey all along, talk about fact being potentially stranger than fiction!

I too had thought it may have been a bourbon that Charles had a hand in making as well.

[Rughi]

Bobby,

Do you say it may be Heaven Hill based on tasting, or solely on speculation?

My taste buds tell me anything BUT Heaven Hill, but YMMV.

Roger

[robbyvirus]

Bobby,

My taste buds tell me anything BUT Heaven Hill, but YMMV.

Roger

I agree with Roger...Wathen's tastes like no Heaven Hill bourbon I've ever had!

[Rughi]

After having no luck in getting an East Bay source for Wathen's (sources said they couldn't even get a response), I asked my dad to go back to the store in Napa where I got my first bottle to pick up a couple extra. When he went in and asked for it by name one store worker turned to another, said he'd never heard of it before, and asked if she had ever tried it.

"Ya, it's just another bottle," she replied.

I wholeheartedly disagree. It's great, great stuff. Just not much distribution - or any advertising.

By the way, the two new bottles were from barrels 224 and 228 (which my first bottle was), both bottled on 3-21-05.

Roger - Just another bottle, please - Hodges

-

[BourbonJoe]

Tim,

Just opened a bottle from barrel 205 (10/7/04) that I got at the House Of Bourbon (30 bucks)in Owensboro during a visit in April. The stuff is super. I wish I would have gotten more.

Joe

[bluesbassdad]

I may have seen several bottles of Wathen's on the shelf at Hi Time in Costa Mesa yesterday. (I was too busy cleaning out the Russell's Reserve to commit to memory all the others I passed up.) If you'd like to lay in a stash, I suggest you give them a call.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[monte]

I may have seen several bottles of Wathen's on the shelf at Hi Time in Costa Mesa yesterday. (I was too busy cleaning out the Russell's Reserve to commit to memory all the others I passed up.)

What price did you get the WTRR for??

What a fine pour...

-monte-

P.S. to be on topic, I have not seen any new Wathens up here at all, including at places that have shelf markers for Wathens... so it goes!!

[bluesbassdad]

I left the sales slip at my son's house back in CA. (We made a combined purchase on a single credit card transaction.) I believe the shelf price was $26.99, but since I asked for a case, but they had only nine bottles, I was supposed to get the case discount. I can't verify whether I did.

I had already cleaned out BevMo in Torrance (a mere two bottles), but a very attentive clerk there told me they have another shipment coming in next week -- not that I care now or that it would do me any good, having returned to Arizona today. I can only guess whether it will be the old bottling or the new, low-proof bottling. Their price was $28.99.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[BobA]

FYI, the AZ pricing looks like what I see in GA, although sometimes more; maybe gets as low as the CA price. All here that I've seen is still the real stuff.

Bob

[bluesbassdad]

Bob,

The prices I quoted are from CA, where I visited over Fathers Day, not AZ.

The lone bottle of Russell's Reserve that I have found in AZ (Prescott) had actually been marked down -- to $23.99, IIRC. It literally qualified for the "Dusty, Old Bottles" thread.

In general, prices in the Prescott area are 5-15% higher than at Hi Time in Costa Mesa, CA. Based on selected price checks by phone at Sportsman's in Phoenix, their prices are similar to local prices, certainly not enough of a savings to justify a two-hour drive each way.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield