Over the last year my collection of whiskey samples has grown out of control. It was never intentional but almost every time someone asked me if I had tried something and I answered no then somehow I ended up with a sample of it. Let’s just say there are some really generous people in the whiskey enthusiast circles. With the rest of the year off, I’ve got plenty of free time so I’ve decided to make a year end push to clear out as many as I can.
Up tonight are two samples of famed Willett Family Estate C barrels. Willett C barrels are mostly gift shop only releases that are aged from 18-22 years, bottled at cask strength, and are said to be wheated bourbons distilled at the old Bernheim distillery in 1993. Good luck finding any of these as each release has sold out in hours or less even at the hefty price tag of around $300 or more a bottle. The secondary value on these is even worse at a sickening $550 or more which is beyond stupid but I digress.
In my own collection I also happen to have two different cask strength wheated bourbons from Buffalo Trace in the form of William Larue Weller. Those bottles are also very limited, impossible to find on any shelf these days, and hovering around the same sickening secondary market value. Given the extreme craze for all of these releases I thought it would be fun to compare them all in a blind side by side. Here are my blind results from worst to first and then some thoughts on the whole group.
Willett Family Estate #C14D
Aged 22 Years; 69.6% ABV; thanks to /u/ShooterFlatch for the sample
Nose: Sweet with lots of wood notes and slightly bitter undertones. Pretty damn hot so hard to nose much.
Taste: Really warm and really spicy. Heavy cinnamon spice, some dark sweets, and some deeper tannic notes. Very rich and nice depth of flavors. Finish lingers with sweets and leather/tobacco forever. A beast of a bourbon that excels at flavor punch but loses points for being so damn hot.
Guess: WLW 2014
Rating: 88/100
Taste: Really warm and really spicy. Heavy cinnamon spice, some dark sweets, and some deeper tannic notes. Very rich and nice depth of flavors. Finish lingers with sweets and leather/tobacco forever. A beast of a bourbon that excels at flavor punch but loses points for being so damn hot.
Guess: WLW 2014
Rating: 88/100
William Larue Weller 2010
Aged 12 Years; 63.3% ABV
Nose: Cake batter. Sweet, slightly smoky, and a fairly woody. Not so hot that you can’t smell anything.
Taste: More cake batter sweets. A good amount of cinnamon spice. Not nearly as hot as the others though the wood spice is hot on the finish. Finish is a little dry but there are some nice deeper, dark sweet notes in there. A very good and classic high proof wheated bourbon and certainly the most approachable of the bunch.
Guess: WLW 2010
Rating: 91/100
Taste: More cake batter sweets. A good amount of cinnamon spice. Not nearly as hot as the others though the wood spice is hot on the finish. Finish is a little dry but there are some nice deeper, dark sweet notes in there. A very good and classic high proof wheated bourbon and certainly the most approachable of the bunch.
Guess: WLW 2010
Rating: 91/100
William Larue Weller 2014
Aged 12 Years; 70.1% ABV
Nose: The sweets are a bit darker and the wood is a bit deeper. There are some slightly funkier wood notes and fruity notes in there.
Taste: Mostly all the same flavors - honey, cinnamon, dark fruits, dark chocolate, heavy wood. The wheater spice is heavy but not overpowering and there are lots of dark, deep sweet and wood notes. An excellent, bold bourbon that only loses points for being too hot.
Guess: WFE C17D/C14D
Rating: 92/100
Taste: Mostly all the same flavors - honey, cinnamon, dark fruits, dark chocolate, heavy wood. The wheater spice is heavy but not overpowering and there are lots of dark, deep sweet and wood notes. An excellent, bold bourbon that only loses points for being too hot.
Guess: WFE C17D/C14D
Rating: 92/100
Willett Family Estate #C17D
Aged 22 Years; 70.9% ABV; thanks to @bourbonooga for the sample
Nose: Sweet, very woody, and slightly bitter. Breathes really hot so the nose is a bit rough.
Taste: Deeper oak and less sweet than the others. Lots more older wood notes, sweets are much darker and less forward. Still pretty hot and the wheater spice is very present but it’s not the dominant note. This is the cream of the crop by a wide margin as it’s the best balance of old, sweet, wood, and spice.
Guess: WFE C14D/C17D
Rating: 95/100
Taste: Deeper oak and less sweet than the others. Lots more older wood notes, sweets are much darker and less forward. Still pretty hot and the wheater spice is very present but it’s not the dominant note. This is the cream of the crop by a wide margin as it’s the best balance of old, sweet, wood, and spice.
Guess: WFE C14D/C17D
Rating: 95/100
Thoughts: Tasting 4 x 126-140 proof bourbons side by side is brutally hard. I whiffed on the WLW 2014 but I’ve never had either of the C barrels prior to this so it was mostly a guessing game. I am really surprised by my results - I would have thought the Willet C barrels would have take the top 2 spots and the heat of the 2014 William Larue would have put it last but it looks like even the older C barrels can be overly hot. The William Larue 2010 was easy to pinpoint because of the lower proof but that probably worked against next to the beefier cousins. The bottom line is that these are all amazing bourbons but I won’t be rushing to drop secondary market prices on any of them.
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