American Whiskey Review #18: W.L. Weller 12 Year

Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery

Region: Kentucky

Mashbill: Wheated

ABV: 45%

Age: 12 Year

Price: $8.25 for a 1 oz pour during Happy Hour

Color: 1.5, Auburn / Polished Mahogany.

Nose: It smells like a cherry vanilla cola. All it needs is a little bit of fizz to really replicate one.

Palate: Incredibly smooth mouthfeel. It almost silky. For flavors though, it’s fairly mellow. There’s a lot of vanilla and a hint of rye/baking spices but all of that is fairly muted. With a bit of water, it does get a bit sweater with more of a honey vanilla flavor but it’s still fairly muted.

Finish: Short. Some more vanilla notes again but that’s it.

Conclusion: Someone described this as a less sweet and flavorful Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year Lot B and having recently had both, I honestly agree with that statement. It’s really smooth and mellow which makes it really easy to drink but it doesn’t make for a particularly interesting dram. It’s lacking in flavor with vanilla is the only real discernable note for me, and there’s nothing about this that is particularly memorable. Would I buy a bottle? I’m not sure I would buy this at MSRP and I definitely wouldn’t buy it on the secondary market.

Final Score: 73.

American Whiskey review #18, Bourbon Whiskey Review #15, Whisky Network Review #157

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.