William Larue Weller

The Weller name goes back to William Larue Weller, a nineteenth-century Louisville whiskey merchant who is widely credited with popularising bourbon made with wheat in place of rye as the secondary grain. The brand was later tied to the Stitzel-Weller distillery in Louisville, famous for its wheated bourbons.

After Stitzel-Weller closed, the Weller brand passed to the Sazerac Company, and today it is distilled at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, using a wheated mash bill. Wheat gives a softer, rounder, sweeter bourbon than the more common rye recipes, with notes of caramel, honey and baked fruit.

William Larue Weller itself is the wheated bourbon of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, released once a year, bottled uncut and unfiltered at barrel proof, and usually aged around twelve years. It is highly sought after, and our catalogue lists several yearly releases from 2013 to 2019.

The wider Weller family appears in our data too: the Special Reserve, 12 Year Old, Full Proof, Single Barrel and C.Y.P.B. bottlings, as well as the older Weller Millennium release. These are easier to find than the Antique Collection bottling, though some are also in short supply.