Weller Antique 107

Buffalo Trace’s budget Weller line has sort have become the epitome of taterism in Bourbon. It’s the kind of bottle you see people buying by the case, perpetuating the vicious circle of scarceness. Even though it was intended as a budget bourbon, it’s on allocation in many places, and you will almost never see it at MSRP. This one, Antique 107, is the one all the hipsters who are too cool for Weller 12 parrot their love for. Luckily for me, the European bourbon cycle is a couple of years behind, and I managed to find an old bottling of WA107 for European standard retail (always a shit ton more than American MSRP anyway) in Denmark (around €40 iirc). Now I get to taste it blind and see what all the hype is about.

This is a blind review that was done in a set of 21 blind bourbon (and rye) reviews, tasted in sets of 3 (on different days). None of the whiskies were revealed until all 21 were drunk. More information about this setup in the first review of the series. --- **Distiller:** Buffalo Trace **ABV:** 53.5% **Age:** NAS **Setting:** Blind, in a trio with Kentucky Owl Rye B1 and Rowan’s Creek

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Nose: Nutmeg, an oaky funk/cheesiness, herbal earthiness, mild acetone, molasses, mossy forest. Leathery airport lounge (I don’t even know).
Palate: Sweet, creamy, aged cereal. Some hinting barley notes, creme brulee.
Finish: Cinnamon. Heat builds. Not as drying as I was expecting from the nose. Doughy, chocolate. Where did the funk go?
Overall: A really lovely older bourbon. I keep getting scotchy notes on the nose, and I could sit and nose this all night. It was seriously enjoyable. The way the mouthfeel starts creamy, and the heat slowly builds to a long doughy finish was great.
Guess: I’m a little bit stumped by this one. I think it’s a middling proof around 95-105, and on the higher end of the age spectrum, at least 12 years. It seems to have a medium rye content, and doesn’t taste wheated to my palate. Shot in the dark, Michter’s 10, even though it tastes more rye than I remember that bourbon being.
Rank: 7
Reveal: Haha, fuck. And this is why we blind taste. I have to admit I would never have given such a glowing review to this unblind. And jesus, the wheat really is buried here—drinking it again now doing this writeup, I find it incredibly difficult to detect (it usually sticks out like a mouldy bread sore thumb to me). I couldn’t have been more wrong on the guess, thinking it was a middle proof middling rye bourbon over 12 years. Jesus. Thanks palate. This is the hazard of doing blind tastings. Sometimes you find out you really like something you thought you weren’t impressed by. Sometimes you find out you can’t taste shit. At least I have a bottle of WA107 to grudgingly drink my sorrows away with.