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We Tried the New Daniel Weller Bourbon and Talked to the Man Who Made It

Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley on the secondary market, Poor Man’s Pappy and how he’ll keep experimenting.

a bottle of whiskey and glass on a counterBuffalo Trace Distillery

By Sean Evans

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Weller, a wheated bourbon from Buffalo Trace distillery, is beloved by many. (And bemoaned as “tater juice” by few who lack developed palates, those fools.) I’m one of the many.

As a spirits journalist, I’ve amassed enough bottles of whiskey to fill a tanker truck, a sight that raised the eyebrows of my now-wife when she first saw my collection early in our relationship. “I’ve never had a bourbon I’ve liked,” she said. I immediately pressed a Weller Special Reserve into her hand. “Ooh, this is great.” Upon revelation of the name, she off-handedly remarked that Weller would be a great baby name.

Fast-forward six years, we’re married and pregnant, tossing around potential monikers. “It kinda has to be Weller,” she mused. Months later, our daughter Weller emerged. So, uh, I’m a fan of the full Weller lineup. Which is why I was elated to try the latest Weller extension: a new experimental line called Daniel Weller. The line’s first release is Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat, a $499 bottle that’s stepping off a biennial experimental release for Buffalo Trace later this June.

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Before hitting you with some tasting notes, a (brief!) history lesson. After doing battle in The Revolutionary War, Daniel Weller and family hopped a flatboat down the Ohio River, settling in Kentucky in 1794. He started distilling whiskey, an occupation that later continued with his son Samuel, and with Samuel’s son, William Larue. The latter founded W.L. Weller & Sons distillery, and the rest you know. (Or can Google.)

The Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat offering celebrates Daniel’s pioneering spirit while offering a new twist on wheated bourbon. Plan to see one Daniel Weller release every two years, in extremely limited quantities. For the debut, Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley used Emmer wheat — an ancient grain that you can find chiseled into the Egyptian pyramids — and created the distillate in the E.H. Taylor Jr. Microstill. That smaller unit combines a pot and column still and allows for smaller runs of whiskey without disturbing the main production flow.

a bottle of daniel weller whiskey next to a glass on a barrell
Daniel Weller is the latest experimental line of bourbon to come out of the Buffalo Trace Distillery.
Buffalo Trace Distillery

Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat was aged for just under 12 years and is bottled at 94 proof, a nod to the year Daniel arrived in Kentucky. That proof isn’t far off from mainstay Weller 12 Year’s 90 proof, nor Weller Special Reserve (also bottled at 90), but it tastes worlds away from both. The Emmer wheat imparts a more earthy, rustic nose. Refined nostrils will detect orange zest and hazelnut; all olfactory receptors will easily appreciate the decadent caramel.

On the tongue, it’s looser than Weller 12, first hitting you with something spicy that would be easy to mistake with rye, or attribute to the higher proof. Then you taste a solid amount of oak before it moves into a mellow honey sweetness you’ve come to expect from any Weller. I get a hint of salted caramel on the back end, just before the baking spice notes return for a medium-long finish. It’s an enjoyable and unique pour, and it ticks the right hallmarks for a solid experimental release: reminiscent of its forebears while innovating upon them.

The elephant in the room: the $499 price tag. (But it comes with a free compass atop the bottle stopper!) Yep, that’s a giant pill to swallow, but the stocks are scarce so the MSRP will be staggeringly high. Consider the limited availability, and expect to see this on the secondary market shortly after release for easily four times the sticker.

harlen wheatley portrait in color
Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley.
Buffalo Trace Distillery

After the tasting, held at the impressive Analogue bar in New York City, I caught up with Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley about his process for making Daniel Weller, his thoughts on keeping bottles of Weller off the secondary market, whether he approves of Poor Man’s Pappy and what’s next for the experimental line.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Where do you personally want to see the Weller brand head next?

I like the connection to the heritage and continuing that story. Daniel Weller has a perfect connection with that old strain of [Emmer] wheat. We’re continuing to stay within the Weller label and the heritage of the brand, and we’re going to continue to explore. So there’s plenty more coming. We’re not going to make bubble gum bourbon. [Laughs]

Emmer wheat represents the latest test of using ancient grains — we’ve done ancient grain experiments before, like E.H. Taylor’s Amaranth “Grain of the Gods.” Now we’re also experimenting with different taste profiles. We didn’t necessarily use any of those yet, but we’re trying.

Knowing the inevitable market demand, are you able to share the case production numbers for Daniel Weller?

[I can’t share] that, but we’re expanding so much now, making so much whiskey and we’re trying to meet that demand. The good news is the demand is continuing to grow, and we’re producing a huge volume though it’ll hit the market slowly.

Let’s say the demand for Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat blows up, as demand for all Weller core products has. You mentioned that Daniel Weller is a much smaller batch offering. Do you have plans to scale it if it takes off?

Correct. It is [a smaller batch product]. But yes, that’s the way it works. [If it becomes huge] we’ll have to fit that into our plans and allocate based on whichever brands sell more in 2040 or whenever it is.

How do you know when to stop experimenting; when a product is ready to be bottled and released?

“We’re expanding so much now, making so much whiskey and we’re trying to meet that demand.”

It’s all based on taste. And we tasted [Daniel Weller] every year since it started aging. And we know, okay, this is it. We never say, ‘Okay, we’re going to make a twelve-year-old.’ Sometimes you have to wait longer, though we’ve had really good eight- or nine-year products. It’s not obvious to all people, but the longer [a whiskey] ages, the more it mellows. We’ve had experiments where we’ve bottled 80 percent of the experiment and saved 20 percent to see how it keeps aging. Sometimes it’s even better. Usually, you don’t have enough barrels to do that, as was the case with [Daniel Weller].

Are you able to talk about how many barrels you laid down for Daniel?

I don’t think so. That’ll get me in trouble. [Laughs]

Fair, fair. You touched on global warming in your remarks, apt given the Canadian wildfires and a hotter-than-average projected summer. What does the spike in heat mean for you as a master distiller?

It definitely will change the output. We make our own barrels and now we’re using the latest technology to make these barrels. It’s no longer a manual process; we’re doing computer-selected staves instead of cutting it by hand with routers; we’re doing this all to make the seams on the barrels as tight as possible. You can’t control the weather, but you can build a better barrel to compensate for some of those losses.

master distiller harlen wheatley smelling a glass of whiskey
Emmer Wheat is Wheatley’s latest experiment to use an “ancient grain.”
Buffalo Trace Distillery

It’s tough because they’re all your ‘children,’ but if you have the whole Weller lineup at the bar, what are you ordering at the end of the night?

I’d do a Manhattan with Weller 107. In a Manhattan, the 107 will stand up well. I wouldn’t put Weller 12 in a Manhattan, though.

Speaking of 107 and Weller 12, what are your thoughts about Poor Man’s Pappy, (a homemade hack that combines the two spirits in a bid to emulate Pappy Van Winkle)?

I think it’s good! It’s the same recipe, just less aged, and [when we do it, we use] different locations within the rickhouse. If you like wheated bourbon and you can find those, there’s nothing wrong with [Poor Man’s Pappy]. It’s absolutely good.

Speaking of your most coveted product, what, if anything, is Buffalo Trace doing to make sure that with the increased production, Weller and other allocated products are actually getting into the right hands of drinkers and off the secondary market?

Well, we’re working really closely on this. We’ve changed distributors, no more Republic. We made that change based on some of the feedback that we were getting. You can’t control the consumers and the way they’re getting allocations. We can’t control that. New distributors, that’s needed, though.

How do you feel about distributor change?

It’s scary, right? We’ve been working with Republic for a long time, but we’ve found some of these smaller [distributors] are giving us a little better attention so they can do things for us [in a better way.]

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