Buffalo Trace Distillery has unveiled a first-of-its-kindly, nearly 25-year-old wheated bourbon whiskey, Weller Millennium
For years, Pappy Van Winkle dominated the ultra-aged bourbon world with its 15, 20 and 23 year old releases. Love for the brand’s wheated recipe helped create demand for that entire bourbon category, and its legend continued to grow as time rolled on. Now, Buffalo Trace is taking another one of its wheated bourbon brands into the high-end, ultra-aged market with launch of Weller Millennium.
Weller, “the Original Wheated Bourbon brand” as it’s dubbed by Buffalo Trace, is well-known for its wheated recipe as are the variety of bottlings released as part of the W.L. Weller collection. A blend of vintage straight bourbon and wheat whiskeys distilled in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006, Weller Millennium pushes the brand into a new stratosphere.
“At Buffalo Trace Distillery, our motto is ‘Honor Tradition, Embrace Change,’ says Harlen Wheatley, Master Distiller, Buffalo Trace Distillery. “As we are in constant pursuit of making the world’s best whiskey, we often hold back small lots of barrels to continue aging beyond our typical brand standards in hope that this aging experimentation will result in a particularly well-balanced, matured whiskey. In this case, we found the whiskey distilled in 2000 to show incredible balance and asked ourselves how wheat would perform as an ultra-aged spirit. It’s proven to be an impeccable backbone to this expression, allowing us to showcase wheat’s versatility and innovate beyond traditional wheated bourbon.”
Tasting Notes
The whiskey highlights the impact of wheat. On the nose, it boasts rich caramel and toffee notes, leading to layers of oak, dried fruits, and plum lingering throughout. Sweet hints of caramel persist on the palate alongside notes of figs and raisins. The lingering finish finds prominent oak influence with subtle dryness.
“In the 1840s, William Larue Weller created a legendary legacy by being one of the first to use wheat as an ingredient, establishing Weller as the World’s Original Wheated Bourbon. Using wheat in place of rye in the mashbill brought outstanding approachability with complexity of flavor,” says Andrew Duncan, Global Brand Director, Buffalo Trace Distillery. “Today, wheated recipes comprise some of the most coveted whiskies in the world, of which Weller has earned global recognition as the most awarded brand from the World’s Most Award-Winning Distillery. Having patiently waited for these exceptional whiskies to mature to our standard, we are pleased to introduce Weller Millenium as the brand’s pinnacle expression. This world-class expression captures the spirit of the incredible optimism felt at the turn of millennium, while charting a path to the future as a globally-celebrated wheated brand.”
Weller Millennium comes in a 750ml handcrafted crystal decanter with a custom-made crystal topper hand-etched with W.L. Weller’s original “W”. An illuminated display envelopes the 99-proof bottling with exactly 99 bursts while sharing the percentages of each vintage spirit inside the bottle.
Weller Millenium will be released in limited quantities through United States and global distributor networks, which will ship to retailers, bars and restaurants as of June 2024 at a suggested retail price of $7,500 per 750ml bottle; taxes will vary by market.
For more information, head over to the official website.
Last year, Buffalo Trace Distillery released the oldest expression of the Eagle Rare portfolio, Eagle Rare 25, priced at $10,000 per bottle.