William Larue Weller, b.2017, 64.1% abv.

The story goes that William Larue Weller was the first distiller to use wheat instead of rye in the mashbill, releasing his first bourbon in 1849. Not sure if Larue is his actual middle name as the Weller family used to reside in LaRue County, Kentucky, USA and I'm not sure if 1849 is "accurate" because that's when W.L. returned from the Mexican war. Was there aged wheated bourbon waiting for him? It happens that when W.L. returned from the Mexican war, he started a sort of non-distilling producer type of business with his friend George Gonterman and brother Charles D. Weller, but they put additives in their releases (rectified them). The business did well, but his family had a hard time keeping it together through a series of fatal events. During expansion, W.L. hired Alex T. Farnsley and Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle as traveling salesmen... and well, you know. However, it appears W.L. never sold a wheated bourbon! The wheated recipe was introduced by PVW, Farnsley, and the Stitzel Brothers to help sell after Prohibition (1933) as wheaters tasted better younger.

Nose: ground coffee, peanut butter, light peanuts, a good amount of pineapple top, light coconut, texas bbq (light vinegar, worchester sauce, lemon and lime juice, ketchup), and some wow.

Palate: dry, seriously Texas smoked bbq, initial palate has a barrel flavor and it transitions onto more bbq and smoke, but strangely enough the the smoke isn't on the tongue. It's pretty intense though, I coughed a few times on the way out.

Finish: medium to long, spice... hot spice.

I'm on fire!!! Has a pretty strong intense smoked bbq flavor, generally intense flavors, but rough around the edges. Extremely flavorful for a wheated bourbon, I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the intensity to be honest. Might be a distracted grade.

Grade: B+

Whiskyanalysis.com, 9.21 ± 0.25 on 16 reviews for unknown vintages
Thewhiskyphiles, Barry Bradford, 88/100
Thewhiskeywash, Margarett Waterbury , 4/5 stars
Whisky advocate, Fred Minnick, 95 points
Breakingbourbon, Nick, 4.5/5

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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