W. L. Weller


W. L. Weller is a brand of "wheated" bourbon whiskey. The brand was created by the Stitzel-Weller Distilling Company, and was sold several times after 1972. Since 1999, the brand has been owned by the Sazerac Company. It is produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Like all bourbons, Weller is distilled from a mash composed of at least 51% corn. The secondary grain used for the Weller brand is wheat, whereas most bourbons use rye.

Name

The bourbon was named after William Larue Weller, who was a distiller in the early days of Kentucky. He was supposedly the first to produce straight bourbon using wheat instead of rye in the mashbill. His wheated bourbon was first produced in 1849.

Brand expressions

Current

There are several bourbons produced under the W. L. Weller name:
  • Weller Special Reserve - "green label", bottled at 90 proof
  • Weller Antique 107 - "red label", bottled at 107 proof
  • Weller Single Barrel - "orange label", bottled at 97 proof
  • Weller Full Proof - "blue label", bottled at 114 proof, and non-chill filtered
  • Weller 12 Year - "black label", bottled at 90 proof
  • Weller C.Y.P.B. - "white label", bottled at 95 proof
  • William Larue Weller - Antique Collection, unfiltered and bottled at barrel proof

Past

W. L. Weller 19 year was bottled at 90 proof. It was released only for the 2000, 2001, and 2002 Antique Collections.W. L. Weller Centennial was aged for 10 years and bottled at 100 proof. It went out of production in 2009.

William Larue Weller bourbon

Introduced in 2005 as part of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, William Larue Weller Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is an uncut, unfiltered bourbon that's bottled at barrel proof. The proof and age of this annual release varies from year to year:
ReleaseYear of DistillationProduct AgeRelease ProofNumber of BarrelsWarehousesWarehouse FloorsEvaporation LossNumber of Bottles
Fall of 2005Fall of 199312 years, 2 months121.941Q5th58.04%4,602
Fall of 2006Spring of 199115 years, 3 months129.922M5th50.64%2,905
Fall of 2007Spring of 199710 years, 3 months117.934I9th53.27%4,250
Fall of 2008Spring of 199711 years, 2 months125.340I9th52.05%5,131
Fall of 2009Fall of 199811 years134.841N, O5th57.20%4,694
Fall of 2010Summer of 199812 years, 3 months126.655I, P4th and 9th55.50%6,547
Fall of 2011Fall of 199812 years, 11 months133.545N, O, P4th and 5th57.20%5,152
Fall of 2012Spring of 200012 years, 4 months123.449P, I2nd and 4th56.60%5,689
Fall of 2013Spring of 200112 years, 1 month136.239M, P3rd and 4th55.30%3,468
Fall of 2014Spring of 200212 years, 3 months140.239D, K, L2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th62.30%3,933
Fall of 2015Spring of 200312 years, 3 months134.6105I, K, L2nd and 6th72.30%7,780
Fall of 2016Winter of 200312 years, 7 months135.4145D, K, L3rd and 6th65.40%13,421
Fall of 2017Winter of 200512 years, 6 months128.2155D, I, P1st thru 6th54.08%19,040
Fall of 2018Winter of 200612 years, 6 months125.7149C, I, K, L, M, Q2nd thru 5th56.90%17,179
Fall of 2019Winter of 200712 years, 6 months128.0N/AI2nd and 3rd57.00%N/A
Fall of 2020Winter of 200812 years, 6 months134.5N/AI, C3rd, 5th, and 6th73.0%N/A
Fall of 2021Winter of 200912 years, 6 months125.3N/AK, L, D, Q, C1st, 2nd, 3rd64.0%N/A
Fall of 2022Spring of 201012 years, 8 months124.7N/AC, K, N2nd, 3rd, 4th64.0%N/A
Fall of 2023Spring of 201112 years, 6 months133.6N/AC, L, M, N2nd and 3rd66.0%N/A

Awards

The 2016 release of William Larue Weller, from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, was awarded a 2017 Double Gold medal by the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Old Weller Antique 107 was awarded a gold medal at the 2016 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition.
W. L. Weller 12 Year Old Bourbon won the designation of "Extraordinary / Ultimate Recommendation " from the 2015 Ultimate Spirits Challenge and a Silver Outstanding medal from the 2015 International Wine & Spirits Competition.
Spirits writer Jim Murray named William Larue Weller Bourbon the "Second Finest Whisky in the World" in his Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2015. The 2015 release of William Larue Weller was awarded a Silver Outstanding medal from the 2016 International Wine & Spirits Competition.
Weller Full Proof was awarded a Double Gold in the Straight Bourbon category at the 2023 New York World Spirits Competition. WL Weller Single Barrel and WL Weller Full Proof both won Masters awards at the 2023 American Whiskey Masters.