Weller Special Reserve
Weller TL;DR
For this review, we are tasting the Weller Special Reserve (green bottle), which is the entry level Weller. The Antique (red bottle) is the higher octane release at 107 proof (53.5% ABV). If there is one brand that has done a complete 180 degree turn in the past 4-5 years, it is W.L. Weller. When I first moved to my then new house in a then new town, like most people (well, most people obsessed with whiskey at least) I explored the local liquor stores to see what the area had to offer. This was around the time that Buffalo Trace was getting harder to find so I started buying the Weller Special Reserve and Antique bourbons as I needed another cheaper bourbon to have as my staple pour. One of my local stores had voluminous amounts of Wellers at the time, so this worked out well for a while. They were relegated to the bottom shelf and were DUSTY as hell, indicating that they had sat on that bottom shelf for quite some time, but priced nicely in the $22 - $27 range. I bought them pretty continuously as I finished my previous bottles and even scored the occasional Weller 12 as they were put on the shelves here and there.
Then there was an article (or articles, as many publications reported the news of someone else's publication) that pointed out that Weller bourbons used the same mash bill as Pappy van Winkle (which is true), therefore, Weller is (according to the articles) Pappy Jr. so if you can't buy Pappy at $2,000 a bottle on the secondary market, then buy Weller and you can pretend that you are drinking Pappy. As expected, madness ensued.
The readily available, dusty and cheap bottle of $22 Weller somehow became Pappy and the "it" bourbon on the market. Depending on which state you live in, supply is limited and many retailers have taken advantage of the situation by raising their primary market retail prices well above the MSRP to conform to the secondary market prices. I have seen a bottle of Weller Special Reserve for $125* (see picture below), so a whopping 4x-5x the once "normal" retail price in my area. But, before I get into my thoughts on this phenomenon, let's do some sipping.
*this bottle was recently reduced to $125 from $175….looks like retailers are starting to take the hint!
ABV: 45%
How it smells…vanilla, oak, floral, honey, sweet, but a little boozy, with cinnamon
How it tastes…vanilla kicks this off with caramel and cinnamon, warmer than I anticipated but very smooth. The finish is sweet with some slight oak, but overall clean and middling in length….for fun, I added a dab of water although at 45% ABV tread lightly with the drops. I thought it added a bit of ginger spice towards the end, but not much changed elsewise.
Price....$30**
Rating…..🥃🥃🥃🥃**
Final thoughts…the Weller Special Reserve is a nice, easy-going sip. It starts off sweet with vanilla and caramel along with some warming cinnamon. Given that wheat is used as the flavor grain instead of rye, there’s not much spice to this. I like a bit of spice in my bourbon, but not everything needs to be spicy and there’s enough cinnamon on this to give you some warmth in the sip. From start to finish it's pretty clean with no real bad or off-putting notes, which is great for a bottle in the $20-$30 range. In my mind, there’s no doubt that this is a nice little $30 bourbon. However, the key part of the preceding sentence is “$30”. Some folks from Texas or Ohio are going to tell me that you can still get Weller whenever they want for $19-$22, so I tip my hat to them. As for the rest of us, or at least many of us, we have to stomach some of the price inflation if we are going to obtain one of these. But there has to be a limit. For me, it’s probably $35-$40 or so and above that, no thank you as I’m not interested. So for me, a 4x 🥃 seems appropriate at $30-$40….(but here’s where the ** comes into play) going above that and the value rating reduces dramatically and if you are willing to spend $125-$175 on this bottle, then I’ll happily sell you some magic beans.
Before I close this review out, I wanted to get back to the “phenomenon” that I mentioned towards the beginning, that is, the Weller Special Reserve being thought of as Pappy Jr. and demanding outrageous prices, sometimes up to 7x-8x or more than the suggested retail price…..all I have to say about that is bollocks!
OK fine, I’ll elaborate. The theory, to some, is that since it is made from the same mash bill then it’s basically Pappy Jr. If the grain ingredients were the only thing that determined the final product, then maybe this theory would have some merits. But, if you want to believe that, then why not hunt for Ancient Age instead of Blanton’s and save yourself a ton of money? Both are suspected to be made from the same Buffalo Trace Mash Bill # 2! Or why not overpay for any of the Benchmark releases instead of seeking out BTAC George T. Stagg? Both are suspect to be made from the Buffalo Trace Mash Bill #1? Buffalo Trace, the distillery who makes Weller and Pappy, has over 20 bourbon and rye brands in its portfolio, and essentially all are thought to be made from four different mash bills (I use the term essentially as there are some other grain recipes for the E.H. Taylor, Jr. releases), yet people aren’t claiming that Benchmark is George Stagg Jr. (yes, I know there is a Stagg Jr.) nor that Ancient Age is a Baby Blanton’s. There is something about the Pappy brand in the market that has people acting absolutely insane!
I am lucky enough to have a few local stores within a 7 minute drive from my house (hereafter, the “Good Stores”) that treat their customers well by selling these harder-to-find-bottles at reasonable primary market prices. Unfortunately, others think they’re an auction house and try to get a massive mark-up on that one bottle (hereafter, the “Schmuck Stores”). The Good Stores get my weekly business and without a doubt make way more money on me, clipping their 20% - 30% coupon on the volumes of whiskey and every other category of alcohol that I purchase throughout the year as compared to those Schmuck Stores who want to make a little extra money on that single bottle of Pappy or Weller, or Blanton’s, or [INSERT NEXT FAD BOTTLE HERE]. Who do the Schmuck Stores think they’re building customer loyalty with? That one fanatic who is driving around every Saturday for 4 hours trying to find one of a handful of certain bottles regardless of the price point?
Before this turns into an endless rant, I will close with this public service announcement. Dear Reader, it’s an exciting time to be a bourbon (or more generally, a whiskey) drinker. There is an abundance of new, good quality, bottles hitting the shelves each month so do yourself, and the rest of us, a favor and don’t overspend on the “must have” bottles. Don’t feed the greed of some of these distributors or retailers by justifying their insane price increases. Save yourself some cash or, better yet, for the same amount of money for one of these over-priced purchases, buy a few different bottles and explore this wonderful world of whiskey beyond the fads of the day.
Nice Sipper Ratings Reminder…
All ratings are done on a scale between 1x 🥃 and 5x 🥃 according to the following criteria
1x 🥃 = I don't like this at all and/or not worth the cost by a mile.
2x 🥃🥃 = This is "meh" and/or slightly overpriced.
3x 🥃🥃🥃 = This is good stuff and/or the price is right.
4x 🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is wonderful and I'm always keeping it in stock especially at this price.
5x 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is amazing and/or this is way underpriced for the quality of the experience.
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