I was at the distillery last month and asked our tour guide about the mash bill and she confirmed that a couple years ago they began using their own distillate and that it is, indeed, wheated.
Wasn't sure where to put this, but thank you, thank you, thank you, for the NuLu Noir "The Big Sip." I received this last week and opened it Friday night and shared it with my co-workers.(after work hours, of course). Everyone loved it, but especially me. I have tried a lot of bourbons, whiskies, and Scotch, and this is one of my favorite overall - especially the bang-for-the-buck factor. Thank you again and I hope more are coming.
I can CONFIRM the new one (gold UPC) is a young wheater. I asked Willett via email and they confirmed it was changed a few years ago. There’s an 8yr age stated Wheater coming soon, too.
I was gifted a bottle of wps for Christmas 2021 and found the taste to be completely different in the neck vs rest of the bottle. First pour was almost all smoke, oak, and leather, decent mouth feel but bitter finish. Had it on the table at a dinner party next to a bottle of four roses small batch and the willett was ignored all night after first glass in favor of the roses. Circled back to it last week and was pleasantly surprised. The oak and leather were still there but the smoke had mellowed out into the background and the dark fruits had come through. Finish was nowhere near as bitter as the first pour. Settled down into a lovely bottle of bourbon.
I have a gold UPC bottle purchased this year and printed directly on the bottle above the UPC it says “Distilled, Aged, and Bottled by Willlett Distillery Bardstown, KY”
I like the bottle, that's why I bought one. I can't say I like the taste. Almost a drain pour for me. Nasty. I have the gold UPC label batch #21c09. I obviously need to revisit, let it breathe more and may be a drop or two of water.
I have the “newer” bottle with the gold UPC. It does say on the back that it is “distilled, aged, and bottled by Willett Distillery” but I don’t know if the old one says that
Nice review, thanks for posting it. In my own (relatively limited) experience, I’ve found wheated bourbons with no rye to be ‘softer’ and not as ‘rye spicy’ as bourbons with rye and rye whiskeys. And that sounds like what you were describing, especially about the ALLEGEDLY wheated one, so I think you’re right on your hypotheses. Keep up the good work!
I bought my only bottle of this early in my journey, about 3 years ago now. I very much did NOT enjoy it and took to the colloquial name of Pot Swill. I've been wondering if I've needed to give it another shot just to be fair, as my palate has come a long way. not sure with it being so different now if I might actually like it more, or if its even less up my alley.
I’ve had both bottle types and have visited the distillery a few times. Pot still is still one of my favorites. I couldn’t really tell any difference in the different bottles.
Willett pot still is a love it or hate it bourbon. Willett is MY favorite Kentucky distillery by far. I go out of my way looking any WFE rye or bourbon I can get my hands on.
I just got my first bottle of Willet's last week. It's a gold barcode. I don't really care for it. I thought I was crazy because I've seen good reviews. Maybe I'm not crazy after all.
Im planning a trip to Louisville to with a couple of friends. With so many distilleries on the bourbon trail we don't know which ones to choose. What are in, your opinion, the top six to visit?
I have 2 gold label bottles one bought in July of 2020 and one purchased in July 5th 2021, not sure of the batch # on the first bottle but the wax stamp is different on each bottle.
Something sourced is easy to tell. If it does not say "Distilled by Willet" then it is sourced. If it says Kentucky on the label then it is from KY. The Johnny Drum and Rowan's Creek and Noah's Mill and Kentucky Blue are sourced.
I have a couple of the older bottles. I like it, but not my favorite. The bottles that you have look a little different in the base shape and the stoppers are different too. Did Chad say the newer one is a wheater? I dont think they ever mentioned that on any of the numerous tours I have taken.
So I saw one of these for the 1st time and my neck of the woods and and it happens to be the goal label so I guess I'll have to settle lol because I picked it up. 44 bux in North Jersey
This used to be my favorite bourbon. It was sweet, sugary with lots of caramel flavor. I bought a bottle bout 9 months ago and I noticed a difference immediately. Even a friend of mine said it was different. Sad to say I won’t be buying this again. There’s other bourbons to discover!!!!
Maybe eight years ago I bought Willett and Elijah Craig consecutively. The taste was surprisingly similar. Later I read that Willet was sourced... hmmmm... Recently I have read reviews of bottles that are attributed to Willet's own distillate. The reviews are mostly unfavorable.
I have an almost full bottle of the old WPSR single barrel from ‘08. It was bad back then. Don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who liked it. I think, “Blanton Effect” bottle sales or not, that they should drop it from their line. My experience with that first bottle actually turned me away from Willet for several years. I think it does the brand more harm than good.
compared noahs mills from 2016 and 2020 recently. thought they tasted like the same mashbill but the 2016 was just slightly better all around in the same ways y'all described.
I bought and drank a 1.5 litter bottle of pot still to get the bottle to make a lamp. That was the old version, it was not good. Was hoping the new version would be much better but certainly doesn't sound like it is. Don't need another lamp. Pass.
I have a gold one and would describe it exactly how you described the white haha pure Raisin Bran and cinnamon. Kinda thin and underwhelming but definitely not how you described your gold one. Maybe it’s random.
The Gold UPC bottle does state on the back label "Distilled, Aged and Bottled by Willett" whereas the neck label on the white UPC bottle states "Bottled by..." As the lawyers say "Res Ipsa Loquitur". The Thing Speaks For Itself.
I don’t care for this whiskey, and when my wife said that I should gift it, my reply was there’s nobody I dislike that much that I would give it to…. Not a fan.
I bought my first bottle of this Bourbon around 2018. It cost me around $30 at the time and it was horrible. I've been drinking Bourbon for 25 years I like to think I have a good handle on what good Bourbon is. I don't know which bottle I got but I can say it was so bad I wouldn't even give it away. I had to mix other garbage cheap Bourbon with it to make it drinkable. I wouldn't buy this again if it was $10 a bottle. If you can drink this and like it, you can drink anything. No need to waste time and money searching for something good.
I've been drinking whisky for 25 years also, and I, too, have a bottle of this. But, I find it very enjoyable. The owner said that Willet is the "most inconsistent bourbon" in the market today, due to its small batch production. So, it could be the difference in batch, as well as difference in tasting style. I found mine (gold bar code printed) to have rich honey mahogany spice and good depth with long finish. Go figure. Mine also has been opened for about 4 months, which is a good drinking window for whisky, in my experience.
@@Birdylockso I'm glad you found it enjoyable. Maybe there is a lot of inconsistencies in each bottle. I noticed there were a lot of comments similar to mine and some similar to yours. If I were Willet I'd really work to remedy this. As a long time drinker I'm sure you know that you're going to get differences in one bottle from the next. We accept this as drinkers and remember the great bottles. I've even opened bottles and they've been so great I stopped drinking out of them and put them back to share with friends. But most of the time there's a level of consistency that you know you either generally like this brand or you don't. You can't have one bottle that's hot garbage and another that's pretty good. That's too much of a gamble for me to spend my money. I promise you if you try a bottle of this with the other bar code, you'll feel like you're drinking something else. Willett really needs to change this.
