WL Weller 12-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon (Hand Selected Single Barrel for Everett’s by Brian and Bryan) Review

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Last year, a couple of pictures started circulating around social media showing a bottle of Weller 12 wearing a single barrel sticker from Sazerac. Commenters were in disarray with the authenticity of this bottle, but sure enough, it was verified as legitimate. The bottle was sold in 1/4oz increments at the Revival Vintage Spirits Bottle Shop in Covington, Kentucky. The details of how they got the bottle involved the owner knowing the person who got selected to pick the barrel in the first place. That group, which I’m guessing is called “BCS” based on the parts I can see of the single barrel sticker, apparently donates huge amounts of charity money which allows for some very special perks from Buffalo Trace – like the bottle that was being sold.

If you’re new to the scene, you may not realize that Weller 12 Single Barrels were a thing back in the day. Instances of these single barrels began shortly after Julian Van Winkle III entered into his partnership with Buffalo Trace after 2002 – although the two things aren’t necessarily intertwined. Julian had a knack for producing single barrels for special customers when he was operating out of the Old Commonwealth Distillery in the 90’s and early 00’s. Buffalo Trace started to test the waters by releasing some single barrels of Weller Centennial soon after he came onboard. But then they started to sell single barrels of Weller 12 from 2004 to 2009 (give or take).

The places that took delivery of these special barrels were mostly the big names from that period of time like Binny’s, Kentucky Bourbon Society, and, uhhh, another Binny’s. Damn, Chicago really was the Mecca of Bourbon, weren’t they? There are more I’m probably missing, but you can find the topic of these single barrels being discussed at length on Straightbourbon.com if you want more information. There’s one I left off the list and it’s one I’m reviewing today. It’s from a liquor store named Everett’s Wine, Spirits & Beer in Beloit, Illinois.

Everett’s scores a single barrel of Weller 12 with an incredible backstory

In 1999, the Sazerac Company purchased the rights to the WL Weller brand from United Distillers. With that purchase came a large amount of wheated bourbon barrels that were distilled by the legendary – and often forgotten about – Master Distiller Ed Foote. He had previously been the Master Distiller at Stitzel Weller up until 1992 when the distillery started to close down. United Distillers moved him down the street to the New Bernheim distillery where he continued to distill bourbon of all kinds.

According to the opinions of many enthusiasts, the wheated bourbon that was made at Bernheim was very similar in taste to the wheated bourbon made at Stitzel Weller. This is interesting to me because the two distilleries had very different equipment setups. Stitzel Weller ran a copper column still without any rectifying plates whereas Bernheim had larger stills made from stainless steel with copper rectifying plates on the inside. I’ve also ran across estimates of what the mash bills were of those bourbons and they were different. But the consensus is that both bourbons were top-tier stuff regardless of where it was made.

A few years after the Bernheim wheated bourbon barrels were delivered to Buffalo Trace warehouses, Julian Van Winkle III began to move his stash of Stitzel Weller barrels to the same campus. Julian wanted his barrels to create the backbone of the Van Winkle brand while Buffalo Trace the Bernheim barrels would be used in the Weller line. There were rumors that a stray barrel or two of Stitzel Weller ended up in a batch of Weller. I don’t doubt it because I’m sure Julian occasionally found barrels that didn’t meet his quality standards.

Buffalo Trace eventually started a program where stores or groups could pick specific barrels from their inventory. Weller 12 was one such label even though it was available on a very limited basis. From everything I read, the single barrels that groups had to choose from at the time were from the stocks of wheated bourbon that came from Bernheim (Buffalo Trace’s was not yet ready for the big time). But that’s where this bottle I’m reviewing today stands out from the rest.

For starters, Everett’s “single barrel” was not actually a single barrel. It was a blend of two barrels – both of them Stitzel Weller. What’s even crazier is that the barrels were 14 and 16-years-old at the time of blending. Somehow, this got past the manager who ran the program. And while you may be inclined to not believe all of this, there are some OGs who have a history with the store and heard Brian & Bryan tell that exact story.

Thanks to my good friend Eric, I was able to try this rare and unique bottle. Actually, I have tried it a handful of times because he had multiples and always seemed to have one open whenever I see him. I envy his status as one of the original enthusiasts that was deep into this hobby before most other people. I also want to give him a big thank you for providing the information for the backstory on this bottle. So without further ado, let’s get into the tasting notes. As usual, I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Oxidation everywhere – but in a good way! If you don’t know what I mean by oxidized, I’m talking about that essence when something isn’t new or fresh. It’s older, less robust, easier to intake because of its smooth delivery. Nothing is going to jump out at you, it’ll just bowl you over with its elegance. I find a lot of that in the way the fruits (cherries and red berries), oak and leather make themselves known in my nostrils. There’s lots of vanilla, a bag of marshmallows and plenty of caramel candies. There is also seasoned oak from the length of time this liquid has sat in a barrel. It’s so graceful that it’s hard to put into words.

Palate: Each sip is sweet with a demure hint of spice. The oak glides onto my tongue along with sweet caramel, vanilla custard, chocolate pudding and pipe tobacco. The mouthfeel is oily and feels great to roll around on the tongue. No burn at all. The fruit flavors are on another level – something that you wouldn’t expect with 14 and 16-year-old bourbon: I get cherries, blueberry jelly, dates and figs. I’m sure there are more if i just kept at it longer. Finally, there is a bit of ash and burnt toffee as the session goes on, but neither of them taste particularly bitter.

Finish: As the sip fades away, I’m left with dark notes like chocolate, oak, oxidized wood and a touch of barrel char. The finish is solidly built and still does not become bitter or astringent in the end – a testament of the distillate that was used. I can still find fruit like cherry and fig at the end along with a light caramel sweetness. What a way to end the dram.

Score: 8.6/10

The quality of this bourbon falls somewhere between a modern Lot B and a Pappy Van Winkle 15. There is a ton of flavor once you start exploring. The layers it contains has few rivals – especially among anything produced today. The only problem is that it’s not particularly “punchy.” But Stitzel Weller was never particularly punchy to me anyway. The limited times I’ve had it (in other labels besides this one), I’m always wow’ed with how smooth and easy drinking it is.

As the session went on, I found the level of oak continued to climb. It’s not like it became bitter or dry, it’s just that it clung to every other flavor note I could identify. This combination made the whole thing feel extremely polished and mature. I’d like to compare it to something modern, but nothing comes to mind.

Final Thoughts

I’m trying hard to find the words to wrap up this review. I can’t tell you to just go out and buy this bottle because it doesn’t exist. I can’t tell 99.9% of you to find a friend with one (like I did) so you can taste it because I only know 3 people who own these bottles. I can’t even tell you to scour the secondary market because I haven’t seen this bottle for sale – probably ever. But what I can do is tell you that Stitzel-Weller is a bourbon you need to experience at least once in your bourbon journey. It’s not going to plow you over with proof or spice or anything that lights your tongue on fire, there’s just an elegance about it that you need to experience to know. This is one of those forgotten bourbon profiles that are lost to time along with Old Grand Dad, Wild Turkey and Pennsylvania Ryes.

I think that this memorable bottle can’t have a true value assigned to it. It’s rare and the stocks that were used to make it don’t exist anymore. But for me, the value of this bottle was in a friend who has guided me throughout my reviewing journey and given me insight when I’ve run into brick walls for information on reviews I’ve done in the past. It’s in the pours we’ve shared, the information we’ve exchanged and the laughs we’ve had along the way. So cheers to you, Eric. I hope I made you proud with this review and here’s to many more to come in the future. After all, bourbon is best enjoyed with generous friends and I’m happy to count him as one of them.