Old Fitzgerald 13 Year Old Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon Review

Old Fitzgerald decanters need no introduction. In fact, I think I’d be wasting my breath to regurgitate the backstory behind them. Heaven Hill was half-heartedly keeping the brand alive through cheap, bottom-shelf offerings until 2018 when they launched a more premium version. These limited time offering (LTO) decanters were originally slated to only have 10 releases over the course of 5 years. Later we learned that did not include the gift-shop exclusives that wore a distinctly different red label.

But Heaven Hill ended up extending the line past 2022. There was a brief pause where the Spring 2023 bottling was delayed until the Fall of that year, but its release timeframe remained more-or-less consistent. It appeared as if the program would hum along at two releases per year until a special gift shop bottling was announced for 2024.

The Old Fitzgerald Very Very Special (VVS) 2024 Gift Shop release

Outwardly, a 13-year-old Old Fitzgerald decanter was nothing particularly special. Heaven Hill already put out a 13-year-old version in the Spring of 2019, so most enthusiasts thought it was more of the same. But details began to emerge that the bourbon inside hadn’t been distilled 13 years ago, it was actually distilled in 1999. How could that be?

Heaven Hill explained that it was from a batch of wheated bourbon originally made in September 1999 and aged for 13 years before being dumped into a holding vat. The people who decided to vat it wanted to save it for a special occasion. That occasion ended up being the 25th Anniversary of Heaven Hill acquiring the Old Fitzgerald name.

A friend of mine floated a wild theory that this bourbon was not actually distilled by Heaven Hill. I pointed out that both Heaven Hill DSP numbers were listed on the back label, but asked him why he thought that. He dove into the history behind Heaven Hill buying the New Bernheim Distillery in the Spring of 1999 and needing a while to set up the equipment to their specifications and to test out batches. The distillery had been set up to make United Distillers distillate for brands like IW Harper and Old Charter and now had the task of recreating the taste and profile of Heaven Hill bourbon. Little known fact: Heaven Hill’s Pre-Fire Mash Bill used to be 75/13/12 but due to the new distilling equipment, it had to be changed to 78/10/12 to achieve the same kind of profile.

So if Heaven Hill didn’t make this initial batch of bourbon, who did? His take was it could have been Brown-Forman. I told him that I thought Brown-Forman only made rye whiskey for Heaven Hill. It turns out that Chuck Cowdery has talked about it extensively here and here. If you want the synopsis, Chuck lays out that Jim Beam made bourbon for Heaven Hill in 1997 and Brown-Forman made bourbon for them in 1998 and 1999. It wasn’t until 2000 that Parker and Craig had nailed down their processes at the new distillery and production really began in earnest. If you have any knowledge yourself, let me know in the comments.

Why you’ll never look at the Old Fitzgerald Decanter topper the same way again

A story is floating around out there in regards to the Old Fitzgerald Decanter and the topper used to seal it. The bottle is a beautiful design created by a French company to mimic the Old Fitzgerald decanters of yesteryear. The new bottle shape keeps many of the same features and proportions, but the wide mouth at the opening made it hard to find a suitable stopper that would stay in place. The story goes on to say that standard short cork toppers were hard to pull out and were prone to leakage.

So the glass makers and Heaven Hill tried to find a solution on how best to plug the hole so that it wouldn’t leak. The solution came from a third-party source who had the qualifications and know-how for, ummm, plugging holes. Adult toy company Adam & Eve supposedly gave them the solution in the final design you see below. And the rest, as they say, is history. By the way, if you want to know where a lot of people are getting this story from, just stop into the downtown Louisville Evergreen Liquors on most evenings and order a pour of Old Fitz from the bartender in this picture. He’s happy to tell it in hilarious (and graphic) detail.

Whether or not you believe this is how the story really went, you can’t unsee it now. It’s a great story for the dirty minded, but as anyone who has shipped one of these bottles knows, they’re still very much prone to leakage if you ship them due to the heavy glass top being easy to push in a direction that causes the cork to move slightly. If you ever have to ship one of these bottles, you need to put something like a the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels around the neck of the bottle and the topper.

Now that you know everything you wanted to know about this newest bottle, what does it taste like? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat from a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Extremely pleasant wood varnish and leather notes drip with age and maturity. I can smell vanilla frosting, melted rum raisin ice cream and toasted coconut. There is a bit of brown sugar and salted nuts in the mix as well. Each sniff is a total dessert bomb.

Palate: The wood varnish notes continue with a good amount of seasoned oak and leather to display the age on this. I think it tastes a bit older than 13 years so I wonder if the liquid oxidized a bit in the tank? Moving on, I can find flavors of vanilla, coffee, chocolate and more of those coconut notes – kind of like a Mounds or Almond Joy candy bar. Fruits consist of light cherry, spiced baked apples and dried & sweetened apricots. The one thing that I notice on this bottle is how much the heat has been tempered. Sometimes the younger Old Fitz decanters have had a spicy cinnamon aspect to them.

Finish: The oak that remains on the finish is heavy and smothering. Why is it so strong? It isn’t even the oldest Old Fitz Heaven Hill has released! Additional flavors like scorched caramel, faint almond and drying leather can also be found. I don’t find the finish to be overly bitter either, but much of the sweetness does leave by this point.

Score: 8.3/10

For many enthusiasts, including myself, these Old Fitzgerald releases are hit or miss. Some of the better ones have been the older ones (15 and 17 year are my favorites), while those typically under the 14-year-old mark are not as well received. I’m here to say that I found this 13 year version to be close to the top over the last 17 releases. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of the 15 and 17 year versions, but it has some great traits about it where its taste and quality make me believe that the price that they’re charging for it might just be the price that it’s worth. And at $300, that’s saying a lot.

Final Thoughts

In the realm of wheated bourbons, Heaven Hill’s offerings typically get forgotten about. I have certainly shunned my fair share of Larceny Barrel Proofs throughout the years. I also make no excuses for how mid I think that the majority of 8, 9, 10 and even the 11-year-old Old Fitz Decanters were. But this bottle delivers a glimpse into a wheated bourbon that really has what it takes to stand up to the likes of the Van Winkle lineup. That’s not something I’d normally say.

So if you have the time and you’re in the gift shop when these release, go ahead and splurge. There’s not much else quite like the bourbon on the inside or the bottle it comes in. Very Very Special, indeed.