Old W. L. Weller Original 107 Proof Bourbon Gold Vein 1975

This is a 1975 bottling of the Old Weller Antique, their 107-proof wheated bourbon. This was produced by United Distillers using barrels of Stitzel-Weller stock, although at the time they were filled the distillery was trading by the name Old Fitzgerald. It would revert back upon its closure.

William Larue Weller was born into a distilling family in Kentucky in 1825, and launched his W.L. Weller brand in 1849. Originally a rectification business (creating ‘whiskey’ using neutral spirit, coloring and flavorings), this all changed with the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 and the death of Weller two years later. The company was left in the hands of the fiercely passionate Julian ‘Pappy’ Van Winkle I who, having steered it safely through the wreckage of National Prohibition, established Old Weller alongside the newly acquired Old Fitzgerald labels and the flagship brands for the new Stitzel-Weller distillery in 1933. It was produced there for over 60 years, eventually being sold to the Sazerac Company in 1999, who distill it at Buffalo Trace using Pappy’s recipe to this day.