Stitzel-Weller Launches Its First New Bourbon Label in Extra Than 30 Years

Stitzel-Weller stays among the many most revered names in all of American whiskey. Ask any bourbon fanatic, and so they’ll gladly wax poetic concerning the place. Positioned alongside the commercial outskirts of Louisville, the distillery initially opened on Derby Day in 1935 and went on to fill barrels for manufacturers as legendary as Pappy Van Winkle and Willett. When it shuttered in 1992, demand for its dwindling inventory — which continues to age in cherished open-air warehouses — skyrocketed. 

Though the ability reopened as a vacationer attraction in 2014, there was no new label to offer regular entry to the decades-old liquid left at Stitzel-Weller… Till now. As we speak marks the official launch of Stitzel Reserve, an ongoing sequence of extra-rare, distillery-exclusive releases designed to honor and spotlight this iconic bourbon deal with. 

The inaugural launch is a barrel-strength, 24-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon that may retail for $1,600. Solely 191 bottles shall be out there in whole.  

Clocking in at a exact (and numerically pleasing) proof of 123.4, the primary quantity of Stitzel Reserve blends juice from 9 distinct barrels, all sourced from a single warehouse. These barrels had been hand-selected by grasp blender Nicole Austin, who spent over two years scouring the location for distinctive casks. 

“I wished [casks] that stood out for his or her liveliness and richness,” Austin tells Meals & Wine. “These weren’t simply oak-driven, however had actual fragrant dimension. On their very own, some lacked the complexity to assist being bottled as a single barrel, however collectively, they constructed one thing layered and compelling.”

To be clear, these had been vessels of liquid that spent most of their lives maturing at Stitzel-Weller. Bourbon produced on the defunct stills right here was invariably of the wheated fashion; wheat was the secondary ingredient behind corn. Dad or mum firm Diageo wouldn’t disclose the unique supply of Stitzel Reserve, nor its precise mash invoice, however did reveal that rye supplanted wheat within the recipe.

In response to tasting notes offered by the model, Stitzel Reserve 24-Yr-Previous options an intensely layered profile of cracked leather-based, saddle oil, and burnt sugar. 

This stage of complexity and dynamism defies standard knowledge on what a quarter-century-old bourbon should be. It’s a foregone conclusion by many within the whiskey world that bourbon of this age has handed its prime. In distinction to scotch, which matures in cooler temperatures — and in additional impartial oak — the intense warmth cycles in Kentucky and the depth of the charred virgin oak it rests in can result in over-extraction of oak after twenty years. To stop this consequence, Austin surrendered herself to the meticulous and exhaustive means of sampling particular person barrels. 

“The method concerned actually squatting subsequent to barrels, chalk in hand, nosing them by high quality proper there on the spot,” she says. “No lab samples, simply intuition. I marked those that stood out, generally with a foolish coronary heart if I actually liked them, so the staff may type them into applicable vessels. That hands-on method was the one strategy to discover what I used to be in search of: barrels that also had life, complexity, and fragrant richness regardless of their age.”

What’s subsequent within the sequence? Properly, earlier than 12 months’s finish, an excellent smaller allocation of liquid is about to hit the market via an unique bourbon collector’s membership. After that, it’s totally as much as Austin what is going to roll out subsequent — and when. However these extra-aged bourbons are actually off to a great begin.