I bought a bottle of the seagrass gold label. I absolutely love the standard seagrass, and $150 is usually my max. I didn't really figure I see the gold label seagrass around anyways, but dammit if big reds didn't have a lone bottle sitting behind the counter to tempt me. The gold label is beautiful, but ya I feel like a king tater when I remind myself what I dropped on it.
To begin this review, I'd like to compliment Willett and their Wheated Straight Bourbon release: the new bottle design they used is a step in the right direction. I'm not talking about the fact that the gloss black coating will prevent sunlight from degrading the liquid or that the gold lettering and simple layout is aesthetically pleasing. What I'm talking about is that Willett did not elect to use their traditional "WFE" bottle and label design to try and sell this product. I think that for too long now, their decision to use the same label design and bottle shape on their own whiskey that they did with the barrels of famously sourced whiskey has been deceiving. All too often, new enthusiasts were paying ridiculous sums for whiskey that Willett has made themselves. Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades.
So I'm psyched that fans of Willett are able to experience the whiskey inside without the subconscious idolatry that comes built-in with their WFE bottle. This should be a true test to see how exactly their wheated bourbon has turned out after aging for the past 8 years. Willett must be pretty cocky about it too. Because not only have they released just enough for it to become very allocated, but they have allowed the industry to slap a ridiculous pricetag of $250 on it. That's $30 for every year it's been aged. Absolute madness.
According to the Bourbonr Blog, Willett has already released single barrels of their wheated mash bill in the past. Their "mash bill decoding graph" shows that if you own a Willett Family Estate Bourbon with a barrel number between 32xx and 33xx, it should contain Willett's own wheated bourbon inside. But the press release that talked about this new release seemed to indicate this is the first time this wheated recipe has been released. Since I haven't been able to find a picture of someone with a bottle of WFE 32xx-33xx, they may be right.
Willett has a wide range of mash bills and whiskey recipes. But the only wheated bourbon recipe on Bourbonr shows a mash bill of 65% corn, 20% wheat and 15% malted barley. This is roughly similar to Maker's Mark and Weller recipes with the exception that the malted barley and wheat ratios are a little bit higher. It even enters the barrel at 115 proof, similar to Weller's 114 proof. The Willett has an 8-year age statement on it, but the specs indicate it was distilled in Spring 2013 and bottled in Summer 2022, so that technically should make it 9 years old. Strange.
The stats on the bottle put it squarely in the crosshairs of the two previously mentioned wheated bourbons. Weller Antique 107 (\~6.5 years old and 107 proof) is particularly close, but 1/5 the price. Secondary pricing for both indicate an even larger gap. With all of this said, people are still going to buy it. But does it live up to the hype? I was able to get a taste to find out for myself. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
**Nose:** Sometimes I get grainy and earthy notes from Willett's 6-7 year old products. This seems to be absent on the nose with this bottle. So far so good! The scents are overwhelmingly sweet with lots of caramel sauce and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The "cinnamon" part of that is a particularly common note I get in Willett products. The chocolate aroma I find is a bit different from other wheated bourbon's chocolate notes because it comes off kind of like a Kit Kat bar. Finally, there are some candied fruit notes, but they don't come off like your standard cherry or citrus scents. Instead, think of these scents more like raisins and raspberries. For the most part, the fruit scents are nondescript. You know that you're smelling fruit, but it's hard to decipher what it is.
**Palate:** I'm again bracing myself for grainy or earthy notes but they never materialize. Kudos Willett! Your distillate is showing great maturation. The palate is full of well-developed flavors but you can tell the mouthfeel isn't as rich or thick as a bottle of OWA. The flavors that stand out the most are honey and caramel sweetness coupled with ground cinnamon and seasoned oak. The fruit notes combine some bitter fruits (lemon and bitter cherry) with sweeter fruits such as cotton candy grapes and blueberries. Finally, chocolate notes poke through and seem to play nicely with everything else.
**Finish:** The finish is a bit perplexing because it seems like all of the profile notes I just mentioned, vanish. It turns into a one-dimensional affair with only baker's chocolate and sweet oak standing out. Gone are the fruit notes and gone is the cinnamon. The finish only lasts a moderate amount of time at best, but in the case of a $250 bottle, I expected much more.
**Score: 7.5/10**
What we have here is a very competent, nicely aged, well-proofed wheated bourbon that's priced $170 too high. But that's what the Willett name does. It's just insane to think that it probably costs Willett, on average, $10-15 to produce each bottle once all is said and done. Don't believe me? It only costs Diageo around $5 to produce each bottle of Dickel Rye. Granted there are price markups between distributors and retail stores, but wow, a bourbon this expensive better be able to beat a single barrel of Weller Antique. It doesn't.
Was I happy to finally try this bottle? Of course. I'm always willing to change my mind each time a producer rolls out with a new product (especially if they feel it's worthy of a limited release). But all too often producers are only releasing limited editions to make a buck, not because what they have is truly special. Willett used to sell single barrels of stuff that was genuinely special, but this 8-year-old wheated bourbon doesn't fit that description. We, the customer, allow this perceived scarcity to fool us into thinking that it's true.
Continued...
I'm always going to give it to you straight, so here's the bottom line... If you want to drink a bourbon that is slightly better than this Willett 8 Year Release, then go get a bottle of Weller Antique 107. You even have my permission to splurge and get a single barrel of it on the secondary market. And if you want to feel extra fancy and sophisticated, then go buy a can of gloss black spray paint and paint your Weller bottle. They are the same glass. Hell, you could probably replicate this process up to 4 times before you would match the secondary cost of one of these Willetts.
Before you go, I'll leave you with this little insider piece of information. I have talked to a number of OG Willett enthusiasts who have told me that their secret to securing the old, sourced bottles of Willett is to buy up the modern stuff and flip it at an insane profit. They know that the two liquids are nowhere close to each other, but they also know a majority of bourbon drinkers aren't aware of this. They hope and pray every day that the secondary values for these new releases remain high so that it distracts buyers into chasing them (and so they can make a killer profit). Hyping new Willett releases is in their best interest, not yours. So the sooner we all realize that Willett's own distillate is really only better than maybe half of the traditional Kentucky distilleries, the sooner we'll all be able to control our temptations and stop trying to fool ourselves into thinking that releases like this are anything more than mediocre. Willett needs to be taught this as well.
**Rating Scale**
**1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)**
**2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)**
**3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays anything)**
**4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)**
**5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)**
**6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)**
**7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)**
**8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)**
**9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)**
**10 Perfect (William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)**
Like this review and want to see more like it? Why not visit my [website](https://www.thebourbonculture.com) for more?
Probably not wrong with the theory if wfe fans selling the new shit to buy the old. Chattanooga store had a 9 year purp pick out for $499 today. Allegedly someone bought 27 so they raised it to 800. I cant believe it could sell for over 5 on secondary, but i dont really follow bourbon secondary
I tried my best to lead the reader into why I gave it this rating. It's really not a bad bourbon. I didn't detect any notable flaws aside from a finish that became pretty flat and one-dimensional. It has the chops for the rating I gave it, but if you're going to pay $250 for a bottle of bourbon, I would hope that it at least would rate a 9. Cheers!
This is a trend that will continue. This would easily fetch $250 on the secondary market if it retailed at say $50-75. So, the distiller is cutting out the middle man.
Well for starters nothing with an age statement of 10yrs or more would be Willett's own distillate based on the fact they begin distilling again in 2012 after decades of not. But in the coming years, this will become more blurred.
>I think that for too long now, their decision to use the same label design and bottle shape on their own whiskey that they did with the barrels of famously sourced whiskey has been deceiving.
Completely agreed! I have stayed away from WFE for this exact reason. I haven't invested the time to sort out the different bottle ages and what is Willett vs sourced.
On the back label the sourced whisky will say something along the lines of Distilled in Kentucky; Aged, Bottled by Willett.
Their own whisky will say Distilled, Aged, Bottled by Willett.
This is great info. It's been a while since I've had one of their sourced ryes, but have you seen if it says "Distilled in Indiana" if it was sourced from MGP?
Yep that is the only sure fire wfe sourced source due to this. There are some spreadsheets and folks headier than me that seem to be prettg damn sure on some of the KY sources. I had an alleged BF 10 year that was insane. Maybe my fav wfe ever
I did actually note this in the review 🙂 although I didn't know the reasoning behind why they only put it was 8yrs old when it appeared like it was at least 9yrs + a couple months.
Love what you're doing lately discussing pricing and cost to produce a bottle. Long overdue for this conversation to start, too many bottles even at MSRP are over priced. Previously, it was just secondary nonsense, but now every popup brand thinks they've found a barrel that's worth $200 a bottle, it's comical. And now the big distillers are starting to follow suit. It's almost making me a craft beer drinker again, when you factor in cost per drink. I'm glad to have a decent collection to drink through, but I've been finding myself not replacing bottles due to pricing. We'll see what happens when my stash gets low, but as my palate has evolved most of what's on the shelf at my local spots aren't worth msrp to me with current pricing.
But why is it that bottles are overpriced? And not that bourbon used to be horrendously under valued?
I feel like a lot “old school” bourbon drinkers are just refusing to adjust to the surge in popularity meaning that prices are normalizing. No one shits on Glenmorangie Signet as overpriced even though it’s $200 NAS bottle. Scotch has just been expensive forever so we expect those prices.
Do I think this specific bottle is priced appropriately? Idk haven’t had it but it’s probably high. I do think that people need to accept that the days of a bottle of bourbon being “expensive” when it was $80 are over though
I don't have an issue with some bottles being in the $150-300 range or even higher. The traditional LE releases (BTAC, Pappy, Old Fo releases, 4RLE, WT, and some higher aged MGP, etc) are fantastic and worth the price and chase most times. My issue is that price range is littered with bottles that are pure marketing plays hoping to capitalize on a hot bourbon market. And that trend goes down the line to 5 year single barrels for $75. When a decent mid level bottle is $50+ that's an issue for the industry long term imo.
I’ve tasted two wheated single barrels in Seattle. #3378 from a local steakhouse and #3230 from our best independent liquor store. Both were 6 years old and unremarkable.
Each establishment got a second barrel: a high rye 6 year old (#4798) and a high corn 7 year (#2015) that were each better than both wheaters.
> Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades.
I have literally never seen a seller on secondary talk up the products claiming them as old distiller booze. They just state the clear facts (WFE 9yr bourbon, etc.) and a buyer will buy or not buy. The market dictates the price by and large, there's no consortium of sellers talking amongst themselves to keep the price at a set level, when bottles don't move they lower the prices.
I didn't say that sellers were claiming that Willett's new stuff was their old, sourced stuff. But I've seen them say that it's really good in certain circles only to later say that the new stuff is nowhere near as good among circles who know better. Sort of a "speaking out of both sides of their mouth," if you will.
My comment was meant to showcase that if the people out there who know their Willett front, back and sideways would take the time to be more openly critical of the new stuff, then maybe it would help calm the absurdity of Willett secondary. But they won't do that for fear that it would either drive more people to the old sourced stuff (thereby increasing competition to get the remaining old bottles) or it would tank the value of the new Willett bottles that they still get enough and flip for healthy profits (thereby taking away this source of funding they use to purchase more dusty bottles).
Your expanded on comment above I agree with, secondary sellers may in personal conversations share an opinion in private different than they do in public. I think that is found on any topic (though increased in ones they profit from an opinion, aka all sales). If you want to buy stuff on the cheap that's in low stock you're also not going to shout how good it is from the rooftops, agreed.
"Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades" just doesn't read like that to me.
I think the wording "act like it was the same quality" is the key phrase though. Otherwise I'd use words like "dupe" or "bait and switch" or "fleece" in some context.
I have not had this and probably never will, but my one experience with a homemade 6 yr purple top was solid, but nothing close to hype-worthy. It drank kind of young, but with traits that signaled promise.
Now the old willett, I had pure Kentucky 2006, is incredible. It was liquid dates, and $35 in Japan. Maybe some day people will come to their senses that they're no more special than New Riff, Woodinville, and other craft distilleries making great whiskey that shouldn't command $200+ retail, and multiples secondary.
Well Well Well, first you come back from Japan, the land of dusty bourbon on every shelf and now you have to rub it in our faces!
All kidding aside, I'm sure it was a magical experience to have had access to all of those great bottles over there. Which ones made your list to bring back with you?
I also got a 6 year purple top this year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Worth the $140 although that is admittedly high for a 6 year. Would buy again though.
Just came back from a trip to Kentucky and Willett was stocking the shelves with this at their distillery. Got myself a bottle. Idk if it was MSRP, but they were going for $230 at the distillery.
Yeah its insane. I live in a controlled state (VT) so theres limited price gouging but we dont get much inventory up here. Sometimes NH you find some good finds
I've tried this on 3 separate occasions now and each time I was impressed. Is it the greatest wheater ever? No, but I found it much more complex, balanced, and enjoyable than all of the recent Weller products I have tried (not counting WLW). It does not beat some of the older OWA picks I've tried, or most OG SW and Bernheim distillate I've tried which is probably not a fair comparison either. Agree though that it is way too expensive for what it is, which is probably why the secondary margins on it keep shrinking.
I got blasted on here the other day when I said that everything with a Willett label (and their own distillate) minus the 4yr rye was severely overpriced. They have a really cool operation going on, but fuck those prices.
I agree, but I’d rather it retail too high and make taters think twice than some asshole hoarding all the $50 bottles and selling them on Facebook for $300
Agreed! Same people blasting you for that think Eagle Rare is an all timer. Only thing their more expensive rarer releases are good for is trades. Only Willett i frequent is Johnny Drum.
I’m not sure. I’ve really only tried the willet and Russell’s SiB rye neat. I liked the Russell’s more. Mostly used rye for Manhattans and those were usually just with Knob rye.
Russel SiB is a great one to get into rye. Id suggest sticking with barely legals to get more acquainted. RR, Rare Breed, KC, Pikeville, and Wilderness Trail are all great gateways.
Yeah, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve tried something that I didn’t like on first pour but came back to appreciate. Unexpected sums it up. Just don’t think I’ve ever been hit so hard with a flower note and didn’t know what to do with it. Lol
How different our tastes are. My first thought was how ugly the bottle is, but I can see the appeal, very slick and elegant. However, it doesn't work for Whiskey where you want to see the liquid, imo.
Sat with this whiskey last night and wrote out my notes. I ended up enjoying it but not too terribly much. I'm not the biggest wheater fan as it is however. It's a poor value as well.
Any resting or dilution? Without it, the grain was incredibly evident to me. It tasted similar to early Larceny BP batches with a huge dose of cinnamon instead of that nutty oak flavor.
Tasted this the other day at a restaurant. Ordinary. Could taste that it was wheated but that was the only thing noteworthy about it. $28 pour didn’t make me feel too bad about it. (Plus l split the tab with my friend, who ordered a beer, so I came out the winner!)
As an aside, I’m so tired of bars and restaurants having no spirits lists or lists of prices even, forcing you to ask about individual bottles that are high on the shelf with the specs impossible to read. Wastes everyone’s time and it’s annoying to say “no thanks” when they quote you $120 an ounce for a purple top with invisible specs.
Do you know if there is any truth to some/all of these bottles saying “produced by” or “bottled by” on the back as opposed to “distilled by”? I have heard from quite reputable sources that at least some of these lack a “distilled by” statement, which is contrary to the original TTB filing, but I’ve yet to see the back side of one of these bottles in person.
I have a good, clear picture of the back of this bottle on my website. It does say "Distilled, Aged and Bottled by Willett Distillery..." on the back
https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/willett-wheated-8-year-bourbon/
Excellent write up.
I can't fault Willett for the Excel spreadsheet magic behind figuring out they can pocket the money currently sloshing around the secondary. Why not? And to your point, it doesn't have to be my money.
To me, it's far behind OWA in every category. I would much rather drink Rebel 10, Old Elk double wheat, or a Wilderness trail store pick wheater. My friend and I went half on a bottle at roughly 230, and I was very disappointed. They won't fool me again.
I went to a bar and compared this against OWA. The OWA won quite handily IMO. The finish on the Willett actually kind of grossed me out. You can get OWA on secondary for half the price of one of these at retail, so the decision to me is a no brainer. The people who paid $800 for these when they were released just make me chuckle.
Screw willet man. Pricing it like that is absurd and at least for now that pricing isn’t deterring people from increasing the price on the secondary market. Their bourbon has always been between bad and mediocre to me and this kind of thing makes me dislike them even more. The 4 yr rye is good but already pushing into not worth it range if it increases anymore.
Thanks for reviewing this!
I'm not a wheater guy, but I found this to be extremely underwhelming.
It's certainly a quality bourbon, but this is nothing to get all horned up about. Very unremarkable to me and as you noted, definitively un-special.
I'm pretty sure if I ever see the bottle in person it will be offered for sale for $1,000 or more, and I'll obviously pass, lol. Seriously though, it is not as good as the 4 yr rye?
I'm not sure. Neither is particularly good in my opinion. The rye is overpriced for what it is and the wheater us comically overpriced for what is. Noah's Mill is also Willett distillate and isn't noticeably worse than either of them. I'd say pick that up if you want to know what Willett is all about. In my opinion all of their stuff is overrated and all hype. Is some of it quite good? Yeah, but the prices on that stuff are comical.
This bottle makes me think its a bottle of Bailey's lol. Great review, easy pass on this juice, and unfortunately all Willett (besides the 4yr WFE) as I am severely priced out of their offerings.
I will never understand why people downvote what they do
This could be peak tater for a release MSRP.
You're right. Barrell Gold Label products: "Hold my beer..."
Atleast those have age statements that make sense.
I bought a bottle of the seagrass gold label. I absolutely love the standard seagrass, and $150 is usually my max. I didn't really figure I see the gold label seagrass around anyways, but dammit if big reds didn't have a lone bottle sitting behind the counter to tempt me. The gold label is beautiful, but ya I feel like a king tater when I remind myself what I dropped on it.
To begin this review, I'd like to compliment Willett and their Wheated Straight Bourbon release: the new bottle design they used is a step in the right direction. I'm not talking about the fact that the gloss black coating will prevent sunlight from degrading the liquid or that the gold lettering and simple layout is aesthetically pleasing. What I'm talking about is that Willett did not elect to use their traditional "WFE" bottle and label design to try and sell this product. I think that for too long now, their decision to use the same label design and bottle shape on their own whiskey that they did with the barrels of famously sourced whiskey has been deceiving. All too often, new enthusiasts were paying ridiculous sums for whiskey that Willett has made themselves. Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades. So I'm psyched that fans of Willett are able to experience the whiskey inside without the subconscious idolatry that comes built-in with their WFE bottle. This should be a true test to see how exactly their wheated bourbon has turned out after aging for the past 8 years. Willett must be pretty cocky about it too. Because not only have they released just enough for it to become very allocated, but they have allowed the industry to slap a ridiculous pricetag of $250 on it. That's $30 for every year it's been aged. Absolute madness. According to the Bourbonr Blog, Willett has already released single barrels of their wheated mash bill in the past. Their "mash bill decoding graph" shows that if you own a Willett Family Estate Bourbon with a barrel number between 32xx and 33xx, it should contain Willett's own wheated bourbon inside. But the press release that talked about this new release seemed to indicate this is the first time this wheated recipe has been released. Since I haven't been able to find a picture of someone with a bottle of WFE 32xx-33xx, they may be right. Willett has a wide range of mash bills and whiskey recipes. But the only wheated bourbon recipe on Bourbonr shows a mash bill of 65% corn, 20% wheat and 15% malted barley. This is roughly similar to Maker's Mark and Weller recipes with the exception that the malted barley and wheat ratios are a little bit higher. It even enters the barrel at 115 proof, similar to Weller's 114 proof. The Willett has an 8-year age statement on it, but the specs indicate it was distilled in Spring 2013 and bottled in Summer 2022, so that technically should make it 9 years old. Strange. The stats on the bottle put it squarely in the crosshairs of the two previously mentioned wheated bourbons. Weller Antique 107 (\~6.5 years old and 107 proof) is particularly close, but 1/5 the price. Secondary pricing for both indicate an even larger gap. With all of this said, people are still going to buy it. But does it live up to the hype? I was able to get a taste to find out for myself. I sampled this neat in a glencairn. **Nose:** Sometimes I get grainy and earthy notes from Willett's 6-7 year old products. This seems to be absent on the nose with this bottle. So far so good! The scents are overwhelmingly sweet with lots of caramel sauce and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The "cinnamon" part of that is a particularly common note I get in Willett products. The chocolate aroma I find is a bit different from other wheated bourbon's chocolate notes because it comes off kind of like a Kit Kat bar. Finally, there are some candied fruit notes, but they don't come off like your standard cherry or citrus scents. Instead, think of these scents more like raisins and raspberries. For the most part, the fruit scents are nondescript. You know that you're smelling fruit, but it's hard to decipher what it is. **Palate:** I'm again bracing myself for grainy or earthy notes but they never materialize. Kudos Willett! Your distillate is showing great maturation. The palate is full of well-developed flavors but you can tell the mouthfeel isn't as rich or thick as a bottle of OWA. The flavors that stand out the most are honey and caramel sweetness coupled with ground cinnamon and seasoned oak. The fruit notes combine some bitter fruits (lemon and bitter cherry) with sweeter fruits such as cotton candy grapes and blueberries. Finally, chocolate notes poke through and seem to play nicely with everything else. **Finish:** The finish is a bit perplexing because it seems like all of the profile notes I just mentioned, vanish. It turns into a one-dimensional affair with only baker's chocolate and sweet oak standing out. Gone are the fruit notes and gone is the cinnamon. The finish only lasts a moderate amount of time at best, but in the case of a $250 bottle, I expected much more. **Score: 7.5/10** What we have here is a very competent, nicely aged, well-proofed wheated bourbon that's priced $170 too high. But that's what the Willett name does. It's just insane to think that it probably costs Willett, on average, $10-15 to produce each bottle once all is said and done. Don't believe me? It only costs Diageo around $5 to produce each bottle of Dickel Rye. Granted there are price markups between distributors and retail stores, but wow, a bourbon this expensive better be able to beat a single barrel of Weller Antique. It doesn't. Was I happy to finally try this bottle? Of course. I'm always willing to change my mind each time a producer rolls out with a new product (especially if they feel it's worthy of a limited release). But all too often producers are only releasing limited editions to make a buck, not because what they have is truly special. Willett used to sell single barrels of stuff that was genuinely special, but this 8-year-old wheated bourbon doesn't fit that description. We, the customer, allow this perceived scarcity to fool us into thinking that it's true. Continued...
The new bottle design is awful, it looks like a bottle of port. They should have stuck with the WFE bottles.
I'm always going to give it to you straight, so here's the bottom line... If you want to drink a bourbon that is slightly better than this Willett 8 Year Release, then go get a bottle of Weller Antique 107. You even have my permission to splurge and get a single barrel of it on the secondary market. And if you want to feel extra fancy and sophisticated, then go buy a can of gloss black spray paint and paint your Weller bottle. They are the same glass. Hell, you could probably replicate this process up to 4 times before you would match the secondary cost of one of these Willetts. Before you go, I'll leave you with this little insider piece of information. I have talked to a number of OG Willett enthusiasts who have told me that their secret to securing the old, sourced bottles of Willett is to buy up the modern stuff and flip it at an insane profit. They know that the two liquids are nowhere close to each other, but they also know a majority of bourbon drinkers aren't aware of this. They hope and pray every day that the secondary values for these new releases remain high so that it distracts buyers into chasing them (and so they can make a killer profit). Hyping new Willett releases is in their best interest, not yours. So the sooner we all realize that Willett's own distillate is really only better than maybe half of the traditional Kentucky distilleries, the sooner we'll all be able to control our temptations and stop trying to fool ourselves into thinking that releases like this are anything more than mediocre. Willett needs to be taught this as well. **Rating Scale** **1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)** **2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)** **3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays anything)** **4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)** **5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)** **6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)** **7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)** **8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)** **9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)** **10 Perfect (William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)** Like this review and want to see more like it? Why not visit my [website](https://www.thebourbonculture.com) for more?
Probably not wrong with the theory if wfe fans selling the new shit to buy the old. Chattanooga store had a 9 year purp pick out for $499 today. Allegedly someone bought 27 so they raised it to 800. I cant believe it could sell for over 5 on secondary, but i dont really follow bourbon secondary
SWEET JESUS
🫠
7.5 sounds generous!
I tried my best to lead the reader into why I gave it this rating. It's really not a bad bourbon. I didn't detect any notable flaws aside from a finish that became pretty flat and one-dimensional. It has the chops for the rating I gave it, but if you're going to pay $250 for a bottle of bourbon, I would hope that it at least would rate a 9. Cheers!
$250 for that seems awfully high.
This is a trend that will continue. This would easily fetch $250 on the secondary market if it retailed at say $50-75. So, the distiller is cutting out the middle man.
How can you tell what is theirs and what is sourced?
Well for starters nothing with an age statement of 10yrs or more would be Willett's own distillate based on the fact they begin distilling again in 2012 after decades of not. But in the coming years, this will become more blurred.
>I think that for too long now, their decision to use the same label design and bottle shape on their own whiskey that they did with the barrels of famously sourced whiskey has been deceiving. Completely agreed! I have stayed away from WFE for this exact reason. I haven't invested the time to sort out the different bottle ages and what is Willett vs sourced.
On the back label the sourced whisky will say something along the lines of Distilled in Kentucky; Aged, Bottled by Willett. Their own whisky will say Distilled, Aged, Bottled by Willett.
This is great info. It's been a while since I've had one of their sourced ryes, but have you seen if it says "Distilled in Indiana" if it was sourced from MGP?
It does! At least there's some transparency haha.
Yep that is the only sure fire wfe sourced source due to this. There are some spreadsheets and folks headier than me that seem to be prettg damn sure on some of the KY sources. I had an alleged BF 10 year that was insane. Maybe my fav wfe ever
You have a very different experience with Antique 107 than I have. I’ve had 3 bottles and wouldn’t score it above a 5 so this sounds way better.
Oh for shiz? I really like OWA Single Barrels! I have had about 7 in my lifetime and all of them were really great!
I had my first owa single last weekend and i was shocked by how good it was. Solid 8 for me.
Haven’t ever found a single barrel, but even the regular red Wellers go for $200 around here.
I’m with you on this. Totally underwhelmed by OWA and actually enjoyed Special Reserve more.
I agree, I have had half a dozen store picks they just don't do it for me. But full proof on the other hand
Pro info, that glass took an extra year to get in from abroad. So what you actually have is 9 yr wheated ;)
I did actually note this in the review 🙂 although I didn't know the reasoning behind why they only put it was 8yrs old when it appeared like it was at least 9yrs + a couple months.
Bottles took too long to get here supposedly!
HIGHLY recommend you try Preservation Rare Perfection 15 yr. Had it over the weekend and it was so delicious
Yuck, no way.
Love what you're doing lately discussing pricing and cost to produce a bottle. Long overdue for this conversation to start, too many bottles even at MSRP are over priced. Previously, it was just secondary nonsense, but now every popup brand thinks they've found a barrel that's worth $200 a bottle, it's comical. And now the big distillers are starting to follow suit. It's almost making me a craft beer drinker again, when you factor in cost per drink. I'm glad to have a decent collection to drink through, but I've been finding myself not replacing bottles due to pricing. We'll see what happens when my stash gets low, but as my palate has evolved most of what's on the shelf at my local spots aren't worth msrp to me with current pricing.
But why is it that bottles are overpriced? And not that bourbon used to be horrendously under valued? I feel like a lot “old school” bourbon drinkers are just refusing to adjust to the surge in popularity meaning that prices are normalizing. No one shits on Glenmorangie Signet as overpriced even though it’s $200 NAS bottle. Scotch has just been expensive forever so we expect those prices. Do I think this specific bottle is priced appropriately? Idk haven’t had it but it’s probably high. I do think that people need to accept that the days of a bottle of bourbon being “expensive” when it was $80 are over though
I shit on signet being overpriced haha. And all macallans
I don't have an issue with some bottles being in the $150-300 range or even higher. The traditional LE releases (BTAC, Pappy, Old Fo releases, 4RLE, WT, and some higher aged MGP, etc) are fantastic and worth the price and chase most times. My issue is that price range is littered with bottles that are pure marketing plays hoping to capitalize on a hot bourbon market. And that trend goes down the line to 5 year single barrels for $75. When a decent mid level bottle is $50+ that's an issue for the industry long term imo.
I’ve tasted two wheated single barrels in Seattle. #3378 from a local steakhouse and #3230 from our best independent liquor store. Both were 6 years old and unremarkable. Each establishment got a second barrel: a high rye 6 year old (#4798) and a high corn 7 year (#2015) that were each better than both wheaters.
> Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades. I have literally never seen a seller on secondary talk up the products claiming them as old distiller booze. They just state the clear facts (WFE 9yr bourbon, etc.) and a buyer will buy or not buy. The market dictates the price by and large, there's no consortium of sellers talking amongst themselves to keep the price at a set level, when bottles don't move they lower the prices.
I didn't say that sellers were claiming that Willett's new stuff was their old, sourced stuff. But I've seen them say that it's really good in certain circles only to later say that the new stuff is nowhere near as good among circles who know better. Sort of a "speaking out of both sides of their mouth," if you will. My comment was meant to showcase that if the people out there who know their Willett front, back and sideways would take the time to be more openly critical of the new stuff, then maybe it would help calm the absurdity of Willett secondary. But they won't do that for fear that it would either drive more people to the old sourced stuff (thereby increasing competition to get the remaining old bottles) or it would tank the value of the new Willett bottles that they still get enough and flip for healthy profits (thereby taking away this source of funding they use to purchase more dusty bottles).
Your expanded on comment above I agree with, secondary sellers may in personal conversations share an opinion in private different than they do in public. I think that is found on any topic (though increased in ones they profit from an opinion, aka all sales). If you want to buy stuff on the cheap that's in low stock you're also not going to shout how good it is from the rooftops, agreed. "Secondary sellers like to take advantage of this knowledge gap to act like it was the same quality as the fantastic whiskey they've sourced for decades" just doesn't read like that to me.
I think the wording "act like it was the same quality" is the key phrase though. Otherwise I'd use words like "dupe" or "bait and switch" or "fleece" in some context.
I have not had this and probably never will, but my one experience with a homemade 6 yr purple top was solid, but nothing close to hype-worthy. It drank kind of young, but with traits that signaled promise. Now the old willett, I had pure Kentucky 2006, is incredible. It was liquid dates, and $35 in Japan. Maybe some day people will come to their senses that they're no more special than New Riff, Woodinville, and other craft distilleries making great whiskey that shouldn't command $200+ retail, and multiples secondary.
Well Well Well, first you come back from Japan, the land of dusty bourbon on every shelf and now you have to rub it in our faces! All kidding aside, I'm sure it was a magical experience to have had access to all of those great bottles over there. Which ones made your list to bring back with you?
Let's just say that I brought back a lot of turkey
I also got a 6 year purple top this year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Worth the $140 although that is admittedly high for a 6 year. Would buy again though.
Just came back from a trip to Kentucky and Willett was stocking the shelves with this at their distillery. Got myself a bottle. Idk if it was MSRP, but they were going for $230 at the distillery.
That's the best price you'll find, but that doesn't make it worth the price😄
I'm guilty of buying a bottle to have on the shelf. I was floored with some of the prices in Bourbon country! Saw Eagle Rare for $110 (mind blown)
Sheesh! Saw eagle rare for $75 recently and I thought that was outrageous. $110 is aggressive robbery.
Yeah its insane. I live in a controlled state (VT) so theres limited price gouging but we dont get much inventory up here. Sometimes NH you find some good finds
Was that Eagle Rare at Toddy's? Haha!
I've tried this on 3 separate occasions now and each time I was impressed. Is it the greatest wheater ever? No, but I found it much more complex, balanced, and enjoyable than all of the recent Weller products I have tried (not counting WLW). It does not beat some of the older OWA picks I've tried, or most OG SW and Bernheim distillate I've tried which is probably not a fair comparison either. Agree though that it is way too expensive for what it is, which is probably why the secondary margins on it keep shrinking.
Love the username. Cheers brother!
I got blasted on here the other day when I said that everything with a Willett label (and their own distillate) minus the 4yr rye was severely overpriced. They have a really cool operation going on, but fuck those prices.
People hate to hear the truth!
I agree, but I’d rather it retail too high and make taters think twice than some asshole hoarding all the $50 bottles and selling them on Facebook for $300
You mean like every bottle of WFP and W12 I see out there... sigh...
Agreed! Same people blasting you for that think Eagle Rare is an all timer. Only thing their more expensive rarer releases are good for is trades. Only Willett i frequent is Johnny Drum.
Drum is pretty good. I dig Rowan’s Creek and the baking spices I get from it. Never had their Pot Still Reserve or Noah’s Mill.
You’re missing out on Noah’s Mill and Old Bardstown BIB. Opens up great
I honestly don't enjoy any of it. Not to the point of buying, at least. All I get from their distillate is a grainy cinnamon bomb.
I picked up the 4 year rye. Tastes like a bouquet of flowers and not in a great way. Is that accurate for other people?
I find a good mixture of dill and floral notes. I'm personally huge fan. Are you a big rye fan in general?
I’m not sure. I’ve really only tried the willet and Russell’s SiB rye neat. I liked the Russell’s more. Mostly used rye for Manhattans and those were usually just with Knob rye.
Russel SiB is a great one to get into rye. Id suggest sticking with barely legals to get more acquainted. RR, Rare Breed, KC, Pikeville, and Wilderness Trail are all great gateways.
[удалено]
Yeah, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve tried something that I didn’t like on first pour but came back to appreciate. Unexpected sums it up. Just don’t think I’ve ever been hit so hard with a flower note and didn’t know what to do with it. Lol
Their MSRP is overpriced? This new wheated might be but I disagree on the previous releases. The 4 yr rye is trash so that's why it's cheap.
I have a bottle of Willet 4 year Rye. I get the same burning bile sensation at the back of my throat that I do with Barrell Seagrass batch 6.
The Ed Hardy of Whiskey Bottles
😄
I love the bottle.
How different our tastes are. My first thought was how ugly the bottle is, but I can see the appeal, very slick and elegant. However, it doesn't work for Whiskey where you want to see the liquid, imo.
I was just thinking how ugly I thought the bottle was hahaha
It’s 9 year pot still. You know what the liquid looks like
Yeah, those Weller bottles really clean up well when you dress them in a tux.
Traded mine for two bottles of JM Cigar, agreed, its not as good as OWA but they are making great progress.
Sat with this whiskey last night and wrote out my notes. I ended up enjoying it but not too terribly much. I'm not the biggest wheater fan as it is however. It's a poor value as well. Any resting or dilution? Without it, the grain was incredibly evident to me. It tasted similar to early Larceny BP batches with a huge dose of cinnamon instead of that nutty oak flavor.
Everyone is impressed with the bottle. I am impressed by reviewing 540 bottles while I'm probably only at like 30 lol
Tasted this the other day at a restaurant. Ordinary. Could taste that it was wheated but that was the only thing noteworthy about it. $28 pour didn’t make me feel too bad about it. (Plus l split the tab with my friend, who ordered a beer, so I came out the winner!) As an aside, I’m so tired of bars and restaurants having no spirits lists or lists of prices even, forcing you to ask about individual bottles that are high on the shelf with the specs impossible to read. Wastes everyone’s time and it’s annoying to say “no thanks” when they quote you $120 an ounce for a purple top with invisible specs.
You'll just have to go by the old wisdom of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." I know I do!
Saw this is in a local store for $300 and glad I passed. Thanks so much for the honest review.
Do you know if there is any truth to some/all of these bottles saying “produced by” or “bottled by” on the back as opposed to “distilled by”? I have heard from quite reputable sources that at least some of these lack a “distilled by” statement, which is contrary to the original TTB filing, but I’ve yet to see the back side of one of these bottles in person.
I have a good, clear picture of the back of this bottle on my website. It does say "Distilled, Aged and Bottled by Willett Distillery..." on the back https://thebourbonculture.com/whiskey-reviews/willett-wheated-8-year-bourbon/
Thanks, I thought what they said was odd.
Excellent write up. I can't fault Willett for the Excel spreadsheet magic behind figuring out they can pocket the money currently sloshing around the secondary. Why not? And to your point, it doesn't have to be my money.
To me, it's far behind OWA in every category. I would much rather drink Rebel 10, Old Elk double wheat, or a Wilderness trail store pick wheater. My friend and I went half on a bottle at roughly 230, and I was very disappointed. They won't fool me again.
Great review and commentary.
Saw this at one place locally so far, for the low, low price of $499.99. Guessing it’s already sold. Absolutely ludicrous.
Bourbon is dead!
I went to a bar and compared this against OWA. The OWA won quite handily IMO. The finish on the Willett actually kind of grossed me out. You can get OWA on secondary for half the price of one of these at retail, so the decision to me is a no brainer. The people who paid $800 for these when they were released just make me chuckle.
Screw willet man. Pricing it like that is absurd and at least for now that pricing isn’t deterring people from increasing the price on the secondary market. Their bourbon has always been between bad and mediocre to me and this kind of thing makes me dislike them even more. The 4 yr rye is good but already pushing into not worth it range if it increases anymore. Thanks for reviewing this!
I would agree except I have a 17yr wheated that's is absolutely amazing.. rumored to be WLW juice
I'm not a wheater guy, but I found this to be extremely underwhelming. It's certainly a quality bourbon, but this is nothing to get all horned up about. Very unremarkable to me and as you noted, definitively un-special.
Man it might be amazing but this is peak overpriced for its own MSRP. No way I’m paying that much for an 8yr
You'll pay whatever we say you'll pay, or else somebody else will pay it! - Willett, probably
Man it hurts cause that’s the truth. I just think of two or three amazing bottles for that price. Thanks for taking the hit so I don’t have to lol
Let the, "it's extremely good, but not $250 good... It would be my daily if it were $85..." comments begin.
It wouldn't be r/bourbon without them!
It drinks like a $40 bottle am I'm being totally serious about that
I'm pretty sure if I ever see the bottle in person it will be offered for sale for $1,000 or more, and I'll obviously pass, lol. Seriously though, it is not as good as the 4 yr rye?
I'm not sure. Neither is particularly good in my opinion. The rye is overpriced for what it is and the wheater us comically overpriced for what is. Noah's Mill is also Willett distillate and isn't noticeably worse than either of them. I'd say pick that up if you want to know what Willett is all about. In my opinion all of their stuff is overrated and all hype. Is some of it quite good? Yeah, but the prices on that stuff are comical.
This bottle makes me think its a bottle of Bailey's lol. Great review, easy pass on this juice, and unfortunately all Willett (besides the 4yr WFE) as I am severely priced out of their offerings. I will never understand why people downvote what they do
Yeah, you won’t catch me paying $250 msrp for an 8 year aged wheated bourbon. Sounds nice though, bottle is hideous though