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The mysterious 6th BHC member


mozilla
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I recently finalized my BHC collection and noticed that Old Weller Antique 107 was not in the literature that UD provided. Now, I'm sure that I have bought quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag. What's the deal?? I contacted Mike Veach, and confirmed that OWA 107 was deffinately not a BHC member. So, where did the BHC bag originate?

Also, OWA 107 has a UPC number of 88004 which is commonly known today as BT. Why would UD put 88004 on OWA 107 and 88076 on Weller Centennial from the same time period?

Was the OWA something that was distilled at BT? Maybe, UD needed to expand thier upc base? As far as I can tell, the julian date on my OWA 107 is very similar to the VSOF BHC.

Thanks for your input!

Jeff M

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Those Weller 107's in the gold veined bottle and bagged appeared a couple of years ago (I don't recall exactly). It was presumed/speculated/rumored to have been originally done as a project for Duty Free sales. I drank mine a while back, so I don't have the bottle to look at anymore.

Randy

PS You still find them here and there.

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They were bottled a long time ago but showed up on shelves much later......that is the story I was told.

Randy

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Just to iterate a somewhat obvious point -- the title of this thread bothers me a little for its potential to mislead -- there only ever were five Bourbon Heritage Collection bottlings. Bag or no bag, Weller Antique 107 is/was NOT BHC.

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-- the title of this thread bothers me a little for its potential to mislead --

Tim, I am sure that the actual misleading tends toward the group that put a BHC bag on the Old Weller Antique. Thanks for the help.

Jeff M

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I am sure that the actual misleading tends toward the group that put a BHC bag on the Old Weller Antique. Thanks for the help.

Jeff M

Then let's explore that, shall we? You say you bought "quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag." Where did you buy them? All at one place or at many different places? All in Austin? Over what period of time? You showed us meaningless pictures of bottle back labels, where's a picture of this bag? The bag is the anomaly, not the bottles.

Was the product sold in the bag? If so, how did you know what it was?

Does anyone else recall ever seeing a BHC bag? I remember the BHC products coming in boxes. I don't recall ever seeing a bag. Curious that the bag would be generic to the collection and not specific to the individual products.

So, assuming there was such a thing as a BHC bag, how does a non-BHC product get into it? That could happen at the producer, or just as easily at the distributor, or even at the retailer.

When I worked in the display business, one of the things that used to drive us and our clients crazy was you produce some fancy rack or other display piece for XYZ brand, then you go into a store and see it full of some other products, but not XYZ brand. The problem is, when you give something to a distributor or retailer, it's theirs. There isn't a lot you can do to control how they use it.

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You say you bought "quite a number of OWA 107 in a very nicely printed BHC bag." Where did you buy them?

I found one in Houston two months ago. It is a 1L gold-veined bottle with a Louisville label and a bottle date of '96. The Black bag has "The Bourbon Heritage Collection" on it with some kind of BHC logo, and it also says "W L Weller" (see pic below). The rear bottle label also has the 88004 number on it.

Was the product sold in the bag? If so, how did you know what it was?

Yes, it was sold to me in the bag, I found it like that on the shelf.

I had to open the bag to see what it was, and also to see the price on the bottle.

So, assuming there was such a thing as a BHC bag, how does a non-BHC product get into it?

I have no idea.

Here's pics (the gold veining on the bottle does not seem to show up on the pic):

post-2419-14489813178487_thumb.jpg

post-2419-14489813178614_thumb.jpg

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I also found an OC Proprietor's Reserve in a BHC black velvet bag, but didn't buy it (it was gone when I went back later - which is fine with me; I like the 12-yr just as well).

That said, I have noticed some retailers will sell bottles without their boxes/bags, and then put something else in the package. I've seen, for example, recent VSOF in the old BHC box. I've also seen current BT Weller 107 in the old red velvet bag. So, since the W.L. Weller on the bag doesn't indicate a proof or age, it's possible that the bag was designed to hold the Weller Centennial and that the Old Weller 107 was put in the bags after the Centennial was sold. In fact, it could be that the retailer had in mind to mimic the red velvet bag that Weller 107 sometimes came in by using the black bag. My best guess is the misleading is on the part of the retailer in this case. There could be other explanations, of course. Just my two cents' worth.

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Yep Gus, that's exactly what I bought years ago. I drank mine and threw it away as I don't keep empty bottles or bags. We discussed this item here at SB.com, and as I recall Texas wasn't the only place that got them.

I'll be more specific on the "rumor" I heard about these things. Someone at Republic (Texas et al distributor and affiliate of Sazerac) told me they had been done up for a Duty Free client and then weren't delivered. No reason offered or even speculated by Republic. They sat around somewhere....maybe Republics warehouse as they always seem to turn up with unusual items in inventory. My guess is that Republic ordered some Weller 107 liters and this is what showed up. Anyway, they were at Specs here in Houston. I saw a lot of them but only purchased the one. But every one of them on the shelf was in a bag.

Randy

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That rumor and theory would certainly be consistent with how the business operates.

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Thanks for the info on the BHC bag, Randy. And to answere Chuck's question, I purchased all of my bottles in the last year and a half around Austin, in different stores. All were in bags clearly marked with Weller on the front. The bags were all liter size, identical to gblick's photos. (side note) I have also seen Old Charter come in a black liter size bag. The BHC bag seems to be sized for a fat and short liter bottle.

Has anyone figured out why the bottles are set with a BT upc code? Could this be attributed to when they were released, say by BT after 1999? Randy, did you have a date for your info from Republic?

Thanks, Jeff M

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FWIW, I purchased 2 of those a couple years ago in a Louisville, KY Liquor Barn.

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I found a couple more to add to the interest. The first is a 750ml bottled in 1998 Louisville, w/upc 88076 and gold vien(no bag). The second is a 1.75ml bottled in 1991 w/88076 and the word proof instead of brand. Lastly, just for comparison, a bottle of Old Fitz no bottle date, dsp 16 w/88508 upc.

It appears to me that there was not much concern over upc numbers. One brand could use whatever they wanted to label their product. Maybe this is not such a good way to figure out what is in the bottle.

Thanks for all the comments.

Jeff M.

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post-1653-14489813209306_thumb.jpg

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Great finds, congrats.

Those two Antiques are awesome.

I am very curious about the BIB, I have had the current edition and it was just OK to me, I would like to try that old S-W version.

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I am very curious about the BIB, I have had the current edition and it was just OK to me..
I just opened up a bottle of OFBIB dated '05 (DSP-KY-01), and I agree that it was just ok to me, nothing special. But I also have open right now a bottle dated '01 (DSP-KY-01), and it is MUCH better (IMHO). If you ever run across any dated '01, I'd recommend snatching it up. Even though it is from the same DSP-KY-01, I find the '01 to be far better than the '05. I did pick up some OFBIB last week from DSP-KY-16 dated '84, but I've yet to try it.

Great finds, Mozilla, I also found two 1.75L's of the Weller 107 bottled in '95 just this past Saturday.

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I also found an odd 750ml bottle of Fitz BiB that was labeled dsp 16 and bottled at owensboro dsp 24. It had the tell tale shoulder stars that Glenmore used in the day(1994). Tastes gggrreaaaatttt!

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