Weller 12 Year

Distillery: Buffalo Trace

Age: 12 Years

Proof: 90

Verdict: A bit sweet and just beautifully smooth.

Score: 8.37

While it’s difficult to corroborate, William Larue Weller is widely recognized as the first distiller to use wheat rather than rye in his mash, alongside corn.  He’s also known for bringing one Julian (later “Pappy”) Van Winkle into the fold by hiring him to work at his distillery.  The two would go on to leave their own indelible marks on the bourbon industry.

As I mentioned in a previous review of the Weller line, the same wheated mashbill is shared among both the present-day Weller and Van Winkle offerings.  The frenzy created around the ladder likely led to ancillary hype for the former.  Sharing the same mashbill and aging process, it stands to reason that this 12-year Weller offering should bear some resemblance to the very rare 12-year “Lot B” Van Winkle.  While so far I haven’t been lucky enough to try Lot B and cannot confirm that assumption, I can only tell you that I thought Weller 12 was pretty amazing.

There are many of the traditional bourbon scents upfront, with caramel and vanilla sweetness, and some of that 12 years in the oak comes through as well.  The sip is also sweet and just incredibly smooth.  You get more vanilla, caramel, a dash of fruit, and the tiniest hint of cinnamon.  The finish is still sweet, oaky, and warm.  My main takeaway from this tasting, other than it being delicious, is Weller 12 is just so, so easy to drink.   If I were knock it at all, I could say that it’s not overly complex, and definitely leans toward sweet.. but that’s just fine by me. 

While not nearly as hard to obtain as the Van Winkle labels, Weller 12 is still very rarely on store shelves.  On the bright side, it’s not nearly as expensive on the secondary market.. though it can still carry a markup of 2-4 times the $70 MSRP.  This was the cheapest shipped option I could find:

For now at least, it’s high on THE LIST. As always, thank you for stopping by.

G