What is Stitzel & Weller?

[Huegeb]

Greetings everyone,

I do understand that Stitzel & Weller is bourbon and I have made a trade to try some but I cannot determine who makes it and where I can get some on my own. I hear it is good bourbon. Does anybody know a thing about this or is this a bourbon that is hardly spoken of and no body knows a thing about?

Your help is most kindley appreciated.

Thank you,

Geb

[OscarV]

S-W was a distillery, now out of business.

When people talk about S-W bourbon they are referring to bourbon that was made by them and still used in brands such as Pappy Van Winkle and Rip Van Winkle. The owner's grandson puts these labels out with S-W boubon that he acquired.

When S-W was producing their most known brands were Old Fitgerald and W L Weller. Today those brand names are owned by Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace.

[barturtle]

Stitzel-Weller bourbon is spoken about quite often and there is a lot known about it.

In a nutshell:

It is a distillery in Louisville, KY that is owned by Diageo.

The distillery is currently inactive (ie. nothing is made there at this time)

It produced several brands, including; Old Fitzgerald, W.L.Weller, Rebel Yell and Kentucky Tavern.

It is known as the originator (or at least the standard bearer) of the wheat recipe bourbon.

There are only two currently known 100% Stitzel-Weller distilled bourbon currently available, Pappy Van Winkle 20yo and 23yo.

Yes, they made some excellent bourbon.

[bromike666]

What happens to PVW 20yo when the SW whiskey goes bye bye? How many cases did they bottle?

It's my absolute favorite, I'd hate to have it disappear on me.

[DowntownD]

What happens to PVW 20yo when the SW whiskey goes bye bye? How many cases did they bottle?

It's my absolute favorite, I'd hate to have it disappear on me.

<mildly sarcastic rant>

easy, they'll find more in the "family reserve" (read: buy or otherwise cook more 20 or 23 yr old juice from who knows where, officially, and then they'll bottle it and sell it to you as though nothing has changed. easy as pie.

I love the whiskeys the VW's and others are putting out (no matter who actually cooked it), but I loathe the manufactured folk-lore and obfuscation in areas as simple as who actually distilled a given f-ing bottle of bourbon or rye (versus who bought it, stored it, vatted it, selected it, or found it amongst X barrels on Y floor of Z warehouse at some-such distillery.

In my opinion they, the entire collective of American whiskey makers and sellers, do themselves and their customers (and for that matter the world of American whiskey itself) a huge disservice to not be honest, obvious, and forthright about where it all comes from.

the value, I think, is in the actual people like JVW and Booker Noe and Parker Beam (and insert various others here) - it's their (and countless others') talents and tastes and hard work we depend on - so why cloud things with clever bullshit, perpetuated and intentionally vague myths, and fluffy but otherwise meaningless marketing language.

as for me, and pardon me for picking on the VW's for a moment as it's certainly not unique to them, I'd much rather knowingly buy a bottle of whiskey JVW did nothing other than pick from X barrels of Y-distilled spirits at Z-distillery and sell under his family' fine name - than be lead to believe it's something other than what it is.

sorry for the thread hijacking. good luck, really, finding the whiskey you love. supply and demand is one thing, but not being able to do so because we've had the wool pulled over our eyes for marketing reasons is something else entirely. in my opinion at least.

</rant off>

[barturtle]

Actually, Julian has been quite open and honest about what is in nearly every bottle of whiskey he puts his name on. While he might not be writing that info on the label, if you ask him person to person, he has been forthcoming with that info.

But the biggest thing is: Julian has never put his name on a bad bottle of whiskey. We might argue "it was better when" but what he puts out is still outstanding whiskey.

[ggilbertva]

Greetings everyone,

I do understand that Stitzel & Weller is bourbon and I have made a trade to try some but I cannot determine who makes it and where I can get some on my own. I hear it is good bourbon. Does anybody know a thing about this or is this a bourbon that is hardly spoken of and no body knows a thing about?

Your help is most kindley appreciated.

Thank you,

Geb

Geb,

SW whiskey in my opinion, is some of the finest whiskey ever made. Not marketing hype, just my personal opinion (and that shared by others). Pappy Van Winkle approached bourbon creation more as an art form than a business. It's known that PVW's philosphy was this:

"We make fine bourbon at a profit if we can. At a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon." He didn't compromise the whiskey making process and as such produced bourbon that was exceptional. Marketing doesn't dictate that impression....my palate does. If you can get your hands on SW whiskey, do so. You won't regret it.

[bromike666]

<mildly sarcastic rant>

easy, they'll find more in the "family reserve" (read: buy or otherwise cook more 20 or 23 yr old juice from who knows where, officially, and then they'll bottle it and sell it to you as though nothing has changed. easy as pie.

I love the whiskeys the VW's and others are putting out (no matter who actually cooked it), but I loathe the manufactured folk-lore and obfuscation in areas as simple as who actually distilled a given f-ing bottle of bourbon or rye (versus who bought it, stored it, vatted it, selected it, or found it amongst X barrels on Y floor of Z warehouse at some-such distillery.

In my opinion they, the entire collective of American whiskey makers and sellers, do themselves and their customers (and for that matter the world of American whiskey itself) a huge disservice to not be honest, obvious, and forthright about where it all comes from.

the value, I think, is in the actual people like JVW and Booker Noe and Parker Beam (and insert various others here) - it's their (and countless others') talents and tastes and hard work we depend on - so why cloud things with clever bullshit, perpetuated and intentionally vague myths, and fluffy but otherwise meaningless marketing language.

as for me, and pardon me for picking on the VW's for a moment as it's certainly not unique to them, I'd much rather knowingly buy a bottle of whiskey JVW did nothing other than pick from X barrels of Y-distilled spirits at Z-distillery and sell under his family' fine name - than be lead to believe it's something other than what it is.

sorry for the thread hijacking. good luck, really, finding the whiskey you love. supply and demand is one thing, but not being able to do so because we've had the wool pulled over our eyes for marketing reasons is something else entirely. in my opinion at least.

</rant off>

No really, tell us how you feel and this time don't hold anything back:grin:

[DowntownD]

Actually, Julian has been quite open and honest about what is in nearly every bottle of whiskey he puts his name on. While he might not be writing that info on the label, if you ask him person to person, he has been forthcoming with that info.

that's awesome, and he's evidently a great guy. all of which, honestly, makes it all the more ridiculous that it's not on the label already instead of seemingly meaningless folk-lore-ish marketing language.

is that unreasonable? seems more like common sense. and, again, I'm just using those guys as an example for the purposes of discussion - all of the makers who are guilty of such obfuscation.

thanks for your replies.

and sorry for the thread drift, didn't mean to distract.

[mozilla]

that's awesome, and he's evidently a great guy. all of which, honestly, makes it all the more ridiculous that it's not on the label already instead of seemingly meaningless folk-lore-ish marketing language.

is that unreasonable? seems more like common sense. and, again, I'm just using those guys as an example for the purposes of discussion - all of the makers who are guilty of such obfuscation.

thanks for your replies.

and sorry for the thread drift, didn't mean to distract.

D,

You might want to familiarize yourself with some of the restrictions and regulations that are placed on the distilleries and labeling, before continueing with this thought line.