Weller 12 Year Wheated Bourbon Review

Hey guys, my name is Clifton and welcome to another whiskey review. Today we're reviewing the elusive Weller 12

So funny story about Weller, when I lived in South Carolina, I could never find a Weller product anywhere

Whether it's the Special Reserve or the 107, it just was not on the shelves

Luckily, since moving to California, the 107 is still hard to come by, but the Weller Special Reserve isn't as hard to find

And it's not normally on the shelves. It's normally like $50 where it stays on the shelves

But there's one store that I paid $22 for this. So pretty good price

I know it's probably a little bit above MSRP. But one thing that I cannot find and probably won't be able to find is Weller 12

And first of all, I want to say thanks to Brian Allred. Again, he sent me an amazing sample of this

So excited to try it. This is one that I always assume I probably just wouldn't be able to get my hands on

And I'm a big fan of weeded bourbons. Actually, Larceny was one of the first bourbons I ever bought

And lately, I've been drinking a lot of Makers 46. So I love weeded bourbons

So I am excited to try this 12-year-old age-dated bourbon from Buffalo Trace

We're going to try it out. I also poured a little bit of the Weller Special Reserve to compare it to

just because this is the one that I have the most experience with

The Special Reserve used to be age-dated. It used to be a seven-year whiskey

Now they removed the age statement. So it's probably still around that, probably a little bit younger

But this one's definitely a 12-year. So we're going to see if the age, the extra age, adds that much to the whiskey

And if it does, does it justify the rarity of it? I mean, I don't know what else to say

Like, I've never seen a bottle of this for sale anywhere. So first I want to start by doing a taste of the Weller Special Reserve just to kind of set my base palate for this On the nose the Special Reserve is so sweet And that one of the things I love about weeded bourbons They a lot sweeter than ryes and they not as sharp This is only 90 proof

so it's not going to be that bad. But I've noticed weeded bourbons, especially Makers Private Select

the high proof stuff, it doesn't burn like a rye whiskey does. I guess it's just a combination of

the rye with the high proof. But for a weeded bourbon, it's so drinkable. So that's what I love

about them. But I get a lot of sweet corn on the nose of this one. It is sort of bready. I mean

that makes sense because it's a weeded bourbon. But yeah, it's a really nice nose. It's very

approachable. And if you're someone that doesn't even drink whiskey, a weeded bourbon is a great

place to start, whether it's Maker's Mark or Larceny or Weller if you can find it. So on the

knows, the Weller Special Reserve is really good, but I'm curious how it compares to the Weller 12

Hmm. The nose is similar, but I'm getting a lot more of those oaky notes that I get on

some of my older bourbons that I have. You can definitely tell that there is some age on this

one that's significantly more than that one. Still a lot of the sweet, sweet corn notes

but I think the oak kind of shows up very well in that, whereas on the Special Reserve it doesn't

So we're going to go ahead and give the Special Reserve a taste and just kind of, like I said, set our palate for it

No burn at all. That is just pure, sweet caramel candy. Like I said, there's not much oak on the Special Reserve because it is younger

I mean, not compared to some of the other bourbons out there like Jim Beam and stuff, but it's young compared to, especially just compared to a 12-year

But there is some oak on the finish. You get some of that, like, wood, I guess, tannins on the finish

But yeah that really good and that reminds me why I love weeded whiskies So we going to try it We going to try the 12 now and see how it compares Well first of all I don know if

you can see the legs on that, but they're really going, which is weird because it's only like a 90 proof. Usually I get that more on high proof stuff. So let's go ahead and give it a taste

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. That's incredible. I'm so sad that I don't have a bottle of it

Oh, it's so good. So it reminds me of what I like about Maker's 46, which if you don't know, it's basically Maker's Mark

and they finish it with some additional types of wood staves. So it has the extra oakiness and a lot more certain flavors are brought forward based on the staves that they use for it

This reminds me a lot of that, but it's definitely better. I mean, no doubt about that

Of course, the price point of this is, you know, a lot higher. So it looks like retail on the Weller 12 is about $35 now

Although it's funny enough, I found an article from 2016. It said Weller's Special Reserve is $18, Weller 107 is $19, and Weller 12 is $25

So big difference now. But $35 is about the going rate for it now, which puts it kind of in line with Maker's 46

It's a little, I guess a little pricier than Maker's 46, but Maker's 46 is nowhere near

as old. Yeah, this is really good. I do probably prefer the Maker's Private Selects where they're like cast strength

They're kind of like Maker's 46, but they're different staves, and it's a hotter proof

So I would probably prefer that over this one, but Weller is actually releasing a foolproof whiskey sometime soon

So I'm definitely going to try to get my hands on that because this, it may not be the 12-year foolproof

That's more of like the William LaRue Weller, like Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

But even if it more like the Special Reserve at foolproof I imagine that going to be delicious notes I mean it a classic bourbon but in all the right ways I mean it sweet but you get deep dark oaky dark caramel notes I get on it

Not really as fruity. It's honey, but it's not like a fruit sweetness

Although an interesting note I'm getting on, especially the nose of it, is like a fresh plum or like a muscadine

And it reminds me of a muscadine wine. I've never gotten that note on a whiskey before. It's not on the taste as much

Um, it's a little bit like in the back of my mouth. I can kind of get that, but on the nose, I do get a lot of like perfumey like muscadine, um, which I think it's nice. It reminds

me of kind of like a finished, um, whiskey. I'm going to be holding onto this sample bottle for

a little while because that's incredible. Um, yeah, I don't have much else to say about it other

than if you can find this at not secondary prices, I, I wouldn't pay secondary for it. That's me

personally. I'm just not into paying secondary. If you can find this under 50 bucks, grab it

The Weller 12 is an incredible whiskey. Now, the Special Reserve is good

If you can find it for $21 or whatever, get it. It's good. But it can't compete

That is next level, especially for a weeded whiskey. That's one of my favorites I've ever had

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I'm so looking forward to it. I've got to plan something big for that. But yeah, thank you guys so much for watching

and let me know if you've ever had Weller 12 or just any of the Weller lineup. What do you think about it

Do you think it's worth it? Do you think it's overpriced? And would you consider paying secondary for it

I personally wouldn't, but I know some people do. So thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you guys next video

Bye.