Weller-To hoard or not

[madandana]

We arrived in Corpus Christi TX yesterday to spend the remainder of the winter and found the shelves full of Buffalo Trace and Weller Special Reserve at our small local bottle shop. Both are tough to find in MN.

Grabbed a few bottles of each. When I told Dana she said let’s go back and buy it all. ( Got to love a woman like that)

The Buffalo Trace is a no brained but I’m wondering about the Weller? I’ve never had it and am on the wagon for a couple weeks so I haven’t  dipped in. ( I think I’ll have to fall off for 5 min to do a tasting). 
 

I did check with my sister in law who’s been researching bourbons and she said to pick her up a couple of bottles so it must be a little hard to get a hold of.

The major stores around here don’t have it.

What do you all think? Did I stumble on a great find or am I all excited for nothing?

 

 

[Puros Y Vino]

Wellers definitely punches above its' weight for the price.  When its in stock here (Toronto) It sells out quick.  Sadly, they are mostly bought out by Flippers and resold for 3-4X the price! 😡 

[riderpride]

I'm not a wheater fan, but I've never found the reserve to be special. I'd grab a few bottles of the 12 and especially the Antique if available. 

Texas always seems to be allocated more Weller products than any other state. 

Cheers

[jonahs_whale]

I've been out of the Bourbon game for a bit. Why is Buffalo Trace a no brainer? Has that become scarce?

[Greenhorn2]

3 minutes ago, jonahs_whale said:

I've been out of the Bourbon game for a bit. Why is Buffalo Trace a no brainer? Has that become scarce?

I saw buffalo Trace 3 times in my local store last year in N.C.

[btort910]

If you find their Antique 107 or 12 yr. old then jump all over them. Nothing "special" about the Special Reserve except that, like all Weller products, they disappear from the shelves pretty fast.

[madandana]

48 minutes ago, jonahs_whale said:

I've been out of the Bourbon game for a bit. Why is Buffalo Trace a no brainer? Has that become scarce?

It’s my go to other than Basil Hadens. It’s been tough to find in MN

[jakebarnes]

Disclosure: I am not the biggest wheater fan to start. Only Weller's to really hoard are the 107 and Weller 12 for consumption. For selling on a secondary (if you do such a thing), Weller Full Proof. And if you can find it, WL Weller 17 BTAC pick.

One of my big pandemic purchases was buying out part of a barrel pick of Weller 107 from a local steakhouse. Those bottles have been pretty special. 

As an aside, if you are looking for good wheaters, I'd strongly recommend Old Elk wheater picks from stores--they're way better than Weller in my eyes, and only in the $40 range.

[SenorT]

Buy the Buffalo Trace. Leave the Weller (except maybe a bottle or two; it's fine but I wouldn't stock up).

[mcicvara]

4 hours ago, madandana said:

 

What do you all think? Did I stumble on a great find or am I all excited for nothing?

 

 

 

Depends on the price. It's CAN$ 40 here in Ontario if you can find it.

Weller 12 is a much, much better bottle, but again, depends on the price.

 

[Astar20]

Most of Buffalo trace products are allocated, if you see it get it. Things are about to get alot worse, only way to get things now is know the accounts and where all the super allocated bottles go or to buy them on secondary, I just picked up a case of Weller full proof picks. 

 

But for those wondering old rip is Weller antique, lot b is Weller 12 the only reason pappy bottles are pappy bottles is due to the van winkle family going to Buffalo trace to pick out barrels. Buffalo trace is watered down Stagg Jr so on and so forth. Buffalo trace are the experts in marketing and putting out bee products and can't keep fore items on the shelves. Save yourself the headsche buy stuff you can find everyday and don't chase allocated stuff. At spec's in Texas Buffalo trace is behind glass. 

[madandana]

So Dana and I each did a shot of Weller for breakfast ( strictly for research reasons 😂). We thought it was pretty good. We’ll pick up a few extra bottles but won’t clear the shelves.

Also found BT at Spects on the regular shelves but they’d only let me buy one bottle.

For the record I’m not a flipper. I’m a hoarder and gifter.  
 

Thanks for all the comments and advice. It’s cold and windy down here so chasing Bourbon gave me something to do today. Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow.

[Astar20]

@madandana chase EH Taylor it's better than BT and Weller SR

[sho671]

On 2/24/2022 at 9:07 AM, Lord Verulam said:

weller blahhhhh not a fan ....the SR is nto a great whiskey but ppl will pay 60-70 bucks for it on secondary, so if you get it for cost then flip it for a few bucks if  you feel like it 

There was this small liquor store in New Mexico I used to stop at regularly that had the SR for $19.99 and it was always in stock, about 10 bottles deep. I guess I could've made some money for cigars.