Those that have been reading will recall that I got zilched this past BTAC season. Any of the BTAC would have been nice to have but George T Stagg was the bottle I was really gunning for. While I liked the 2012 William Larue Weller, the 2012 Stagg was my clear favorite and is still one of my favorite bourbons of all time. At the time I didn’t realize there could be such a huge variation from year to year, I just assumed the 2013 Stagg would again be my favorite from the collection. As it turned out I was rather let down by the 2013 release. Sometime after coming to that disappointing conclusion I managed to get a pour of the 2013 William Larue Weller at a bar. I’m not going spoil the whole review with my opinion yet but I’ll just say from that moment forward every bit of my whiskey focus shifted towards getting my hands on a bottle.
As someone who is dead set against buying bottles on the secondary, how was I going to obtain a William Larue Weller well past BTAC drop season? Easy, I’ll just trade for one, right? PFFFFFFT. What I would soon learn is that WLW is the most clingy, attached bottle I’ve ever tried to source. I knew I had one thing going for me though - as part of a trade for my miraculous Four Roses 120th find, I managed to get my hands on a Colonel E.H. Taylor Tornado. I knew this was a highly sought after bottle and while I personally liked it I knew it was more valuable as trade bait. Just casually mentioning owning one brought on waves of messages with trade offers. While I did find a couple of people who wanted the Tornado who also owned a WLW, none of them were willing to give up a WLW for it without me kicking in 1-2 additional allocated items. I just wasn’t ready to do that so par for the course in the series I just decided to be patient and wait for the right trade to come along.
A month or so goes by and despite many trade negotiations, nothing pans out. What I did notice one day though is a local craigslist posting from a guy seeming to have every rare bourbon on the planet for sale. In his ad he listed Tornado at $600 and the WLW at $375. Ah ha! Someone who values the Tornado higher than WLW. I hit him up and asked he if was interested in a trade. In typical fashion he balked and I got the same reply I got from everyone else: “WLW, oh that’s my favorite. What else would you want for the Tornado?”. I stood my ground though and after a bit of back and forth with him he agreed to a 1:1 trade. So here today we have that bottle, acquired for 1 EHT Tornado which really only cost me ½ of a Four Roses 120th at retail. I made out pretty well as far as I am concerned.
68.1% ABV; Aged 12 years 1 month
Nose: Surprisingly low heat considering the proof. I figured this one would take a while to air out but even in a heat tunnel glencairn I can nose things immediately after pouring with little burn. Huge wafts of sweet ripe fruits like blackberries, raisins, and sugared caramel for days. When I was a little kid I remember my father used to make homemade blackberry wine and the nose here is very reminiscent of that fruitiness. It’s very comforting to say the least.
Taste: The heat I expected from the nose came to party all the time now. Letting it simmer for a bit longer helped it cool off. It’s heavy, thick, and super viscous. The flavors from the nose are heavily reinforced - warm raisins, butterscotch, sweet wood/brown sugar caramels. Barrel char starts come on at the end.
Finish: Significant barrel char and some heat on the front of the finish. Heat is sharp and a dry at first but fades to a warm sweet glow. Finish is deeply sweet, powerful, and lingers for a very long time. Easily the longest finish of the bunch.
Notes: Wow. Also, wow. I really understand now why people cling to this one so hard. Keep in mind I’m a cask strength junkie but this is easily the best wheated bourbon I’ve ever had. It’s not simple, modest, or very complex. What it lacks in subtlety, layers, or complexity it makes up for with pure brute strength in its strong suit: a decadently sweet wheat palette. Compared to other barrel proof beasts I don’t know if this is quite up there with 2012 Stagg but I'd have a hard time deciding between the two.
Rating: A
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