Old Fitzgerald Very Special 12 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Bourbon Review #15: Old Fitzgerald Very Special 12 Year Old Bourbon

Category: “Go-To”

Price: $35

Availability: Distributed to select states within the USA.       

Proof: 90, 45% avb

Age: 12 Years

Mashbill: Wheat    

Distillery: Heaven Hill- Bardstown, Kentucky.

     Well folks, my four-part serious on rye whiskeys has come to a close. I had a blast reviewing these products, and look forward to reviewing more of them in the future. Now it’s time to jump back into bourbon land! I’m a fan of old (post 10 year) wheated bourbons. The subject for this episode falls nicely into that category.

     The Old Fitzgerald brand goes back to the late 1800’s. John E. Fitzgerald was the creator of this bourbon. It was later purchased by Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle, and produced at the Stitzel-Weller distillery in Shively, KY. Because of this, Old Fitzgerald shares the same historical “wheated” DNA as W.L. Weller and the Van Winkle bourbons.

     On the very first episode of the show, I reviewed W.L. Weller 12 Year Old Bourbon. Old Fitz 12 is often compared to Weller 12. Although these two bourbons can trace their roots back to Stitzel-Weller, are offered at the same proof, the same age, and both have wheated mashbills, they have evolved differently.

     In 1992, Diageo purchased the Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Old Fitz sat dormant for a period of time before eventually being sold off to the Heaven Hill Distillery. 

     By contrast, the WL Weller brand had a more linear evolution. It, along with the Van Winkle brand went from Stitzel-Weller directly to Buffalo Trace (where it is being distilled today).

     Although this review is not intended to be a side-by-side comparison of the two bourbons, it will be interesting to see how I rank them. This will be fascinating to me simply because of how much they have in common.

     
     Overall: Quite simply, I’m not a fan of the Old Fitzgerald 12 Year bourbon. In my opinion, this “very special” wheated bourbon is….well….not so special! It just goes to show that sharing a past with the WL Weller and Van Winkle products doesn’t always translate to a “high quality” product on today’s market. I’m not trying to say that it started out great and deteriorated over time. I didn’t live back then, so I’ll never be able to speak to it’s original quality. I just know that I’m not a fan of the current juice that Heaven Hill is putting out under this old brand today.

     The finish is hardly there. The mouth-feel is watery and thin. The alcohol is not integrated well and serves to distract from the other flavors. It lacks both structure and complexity. I get a little of the sweet caramel/butterscotch notes. There is almost no spice. The wood is by-in-large absent. The Colonel’s score is a 3 out of 10. That’s a far lower score than the 6-7 that I gave to the Weller 12 year. If you asked me to choose between these two wheated bourbons, I would point you to the W.L. Weller 12 year with a high degree of confidence.