Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Proof: 90
Age: NAS (Rumored to be Around 7 Years)
Mashbill: Undisclosed (Wheated)
BACKGROUND: Weller Special Reserve is a part of the Weller line from Buffalo Trace. Weller (William Larue "WL" Weller) is a wheated bourbon line that includes the 90 proof Special Reserve, 96 proof Craft Your Perfect Bourbon "CYPB", 97 proof Single Barrel, 107 Proof Antique, 90 proof 12 year, and 114 proof Full Proof. Their is also William Larue Weller which is apart of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC). The Weller brand was first brought to market in 1972 by Stizel-Weller Distilling Co. In 1999 the brand was sold to Sazerac Company where it fell under the Buffalo Trace umbrella. The Weller brand is highly sought after as it is a wheated bourbon and is where Julian Van Winkle "Pappy" started working in 1893. It is highly sought after as it is a wheated bourbon that comes from Buffalo Trace and is rumored to have the same mashbill or a very similar mashbill to the Van Winkle line. Weller Special Reserve used to have a 7 year age statement but was dropped.
NOSE: Upfront there are scents of apple, brown sugar, sweet corn, vanilla, and a light aroma of oak. There is a slight ethanol burn at the end of the nose.. (18/25)
PALATE: Weller Special Reserve is very sweet and light with notes of sweet corn, caramel, vanilla, and some light fruit notes. It is very simple, sweet, and smooth but is on the lighter side and the flavors are not very deep. (29/40)
FINISH: A medium dry finish of oak with a slight ethanol burn. (19/25)
VALUE: Weller Special Reserve has a SRP of $25 which is a great value! However, you will be very hard pressed to find this bottle anywhere and if you do it is often jacked up to around $75-90. I would pay up to $35. (8/10)
Overall: 75/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Weller Special Reserve is a very simple and sweet bourbon that is great as an introductory whiskey or as a daily drinker. It is very smooth and light while having pronounced flavors. I think that it is over-hyped but enjoyable.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Old Elk Wheated Bourbon
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Maker's Mark
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Asbury Park Straight Bourbon
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Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away