Woa! The very first W.L. Weller BTAC ever made, dating back to 2000! A 19-year-old Wheated Bourbon, made at the Stitzel-Weller distillery in Fall 1980. If anything is ever a unicorn type of whisky, this is it.
In the first two years of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (the years 2000 and 2001) only the Sazerac 18, Eagle Rare 17 and W.L. Weller 19 were released. In 2002, George T. Stagg was added to the line-up and in 2003 and 2004, Weller was dropped, only to be added in 2005 again. From 2006 and onwards, BTAC include all bottles that are released every Fall since that year. It’s the first year that Thomas H. Handy made its appearance in the line-up too.
The distilling tradition of the Weller family harkens back to the earliest pioneering days. Weller & Sons was famous for being the first distiller to produce Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky using wheat instead of rye in the mash bill. William Larue Weller, the most distinguished distiller of this time, spent many years eductaing consumers about the different stules of bourbon, and in particular te special flavors that using wheat inparted.
In addition, the Wellers believed in the importance of aging whiskey and to this day the firm of W.L. Weller and Sons sells no whiskey that is younger than seven years old. This 19 year old Wheated Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is the finest whiskey W.L. Weller and Sons has ever made (according to the back label, that was written in 2000!).
