Weller Q's

[wskybnt]

Is the Weller Special Reserve 7 yr, just watered down Ant/107 7yr ????

[cowdery]

The essence of the question is whether or not they have the same profile. If they don't it's obviously very similar because BT uses its wheated bourbon for only one brand and that's Weller. "Watered down" sounds prejorative, of course. One could equally say that Antique is a "watered down" version of some non-existent barrel-proof expression, barrel-proof for BT's wheated bourbon being in the 122 proof range, if WLW is any indication. Both are 7-year-olds and both are BT wheated bourbon. For your implication to be literally true, they would have to select a batch of 7-year-old wheated bourbon, dilute it to 107 proof, bottle that, then dilute the remainder further to 90. They could it that way but I doubt they do. The reasons are more mudanely practical than anything else.

[wskybnt]

Sorry Chuck, I had to go to dictionary.com to find out what "prejorative" was.

I just wanted to know if they were the same, just water added was all.

[full_proof]

For your implication to be literally true, they would have to select a batch of 7-year-old wheated bourbon, dilute it to 107 proof, bottle that, then dilute the remainder further to 90. They could it that way but I doubt they do. The reasons are more mudanely practical than anything else.

So is this not the same mashbill, Chuck? :confused: Perhaps I'm not following you, but it seems to me to be nothing more than mundanely practical than to mashbill, distill, cask and age a bourbon--and then dilute to different proofs for marketing to a variety of consumers. Do you doubt this method? If so, why?

[TBoner]

I think what Chuck is getting at is that different barrels of ages 7 years and older are selected to be diluted to 107 proof and bottled as Old Weller than those that are selected to be diluted to 90 proof and bottled as Weller Special Reserve.

In other words, it's the same mashbill, but different barrels age differently. The SR has a different taste profile than the Old Weller, a difference that goes beyond proof differences, and barrels are selected for each bottling based on which profile they fit.

[wskybnt]

Alright, thanks T. That is what I wanted to know, I guess.

[cowdery]

I was also getting at the fact that a production schedule is based on orders and sales projections and there's no practical reason to bottle Special Reserve and Antique at the same time. It is more practical to do a selection, dump and bottling run of Antique when that's desirable and, separately, to do the same for Special Reserve when that's necessary. So, yes, they probably treat them as separate products, have separate profiles for each, and manage them that way.

Superficially, it might seem like the easiest and most practical thing to do would be to make a single dump, do one dilution to 107, bottle that as Antique, dilute the rest to 90 and bottle that as SR. That might seem like a reasonable way to do it but, in fact, it's not. It makes a lot more sense to treat them as separate products.

[wskybnt]

Thanks again Chuck, for the info....

I like them both, I was just wondering if the Sp/90 was watered down old/107. I am almost glad to hear that they are not, and are two separate intaties.

P.S. sorry about the spelling, Mississippi Education tainted with Bakers...

[boss302]

A separate question... regarding the "King Weller" (William LaRue Weller)...

Is there an approximate minimal age for the 2006 release?

[tango-papa]

A separate question... regarding the "King Weller" (William LaRue Weller)...

Is there an approximate minimal age for the 2006 release?

15 years, 3 months.