William Larue Weller, Antique Collection 2025
Inspired by W.L. Weller’s pioneering use of wheat in bourbon, this uncut, unfiltered release was filled at 114 proof (57%) and matured for 12 years and seven months before bottling at 129 (64.5%) proof. Last year’s release earned a Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Nose
Brown sugar, vanilla, tobacco leaf, red berry
Palate
Tobacco, licorice, oak spice, clove, cinnamon
Finish
Pepper, vanilla, oak spice
Soft brown sugar and vanilla lead before tobacco leaf and a faint red berry note come through. The palate is dominated by tobacco, salted liquorice and clove, with firm tannin adding dryness. It finishes peppery with vanilla drifting back in to soften the edges.
Maple syrup on the nose with very few signs of age apart from a hint of dried tobacco. Those aged notes hit first on the palate: dried tobacco takes center stage and hints of fresh varnish. Fermented fruits, almost like old bananas, and boozy raisins. The finish is medium in length and sweet.
The nose carries a touch of maple sugar but comes across far more muscular than the Taylor, with fresh coffee beans, super-dark chocolate and a lamington note. The palate is big across the board: chestnut honey, red-delicious apple skin, strawberry jam, butter-soaked pancakes, prunes in Armagnac, cinnamon gum and tutti-frutti ice cream, later revealing classic long-aged American whiskey markers like perique tobacco, warm earth and more dark chocolate. The finish brings the red-fruit character back alongside vanilla caramel, warm wood tannins and a faint Italian-amaro bitterness. A strong showing for a wheated bourbon with nearly thirteen winters behind it.
