Wheated War! Weller Special Reserve vs Larceny Bourbon Review
Background
Ladies and Gentleman! Today’s main event are two whiskeys that need little introduction, both from heavy-hitter distilleries. In the green corner, hailing from Buffalo Trace distillery with an undisclosed wheated mashbill and weighing in at 90 proof… Weller Special Reserve!
And in the beige corner, 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley mash and 92 proof, all the way from Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown Kentucky… Larceny Bourbon! Today’s fight will be three rounds: Nose, Palate and Finish, with the winner taking home the title of Cheap* Wheat Champ.
Yes, I know people go wild for Weller Special Reserve and that makes it hard to actually FIND cheap. But it’s supposed to be, and maybe (definitely) people are silly for paying ridiculous prices for it. We’ll find out!
Round One: Nose
Weller Special Reserve: Overripe strawberries or some other red fruit. That’s a delicious opening note, and it’s counterbalanced by a bit of wood and cinnamon.
Larceny: A lot of sticky toffee and hints of orange zest, it’s creamy and approachable. The citrus provides a nice kick that makes the whiskey scream to be used in an old-fashioned, based on just the nose.
Winner: Two reasonably inviting, though not super punchy noses. That red fruit nose is a bit more inviting though, so we’ll score this a 10-9 round for Weller Special Reserve.
Round Two: Palate
Weller Special Reserve: That red fruit carries over and then gets absolutely overrun by a hot-for-90-proof cinnamon and oak note. It’s a bit astringent, there are hints of caramel as well, but you have to search for them.
Larceny: Orange caramel, buttered toast, and cloves. It provides a fairly rich, viscous mouthfeel as well for a 92 proof whiskey. Creamy.
Winner: Not super close on the palate, a 10-8 knockdown round from Larceny. It’s just a much more cohesive sip than the Weller, which comes out of the corner and lands a few good punches with those fun red fruit notes and then falls apart.
Round Three: Finish
Weller Special Reserve: At this point, Weller is the fighter who spent the time between fights partying and getting real out of shape. Because this finish is ROUGH. Astringent wood… and I don’t know, that’s kind of it? Bits of black pepper, I suppose, maybe the occasional lemon zest. I mostly just want to drink something else.
Larceny: That creaminess hangs around, though it’s not my favorite finish by any means. There’s definitely a slightly harsh woodiness (nothing compared to what Weller has going on), and a bit of citrus and baking spice.
Winner: To continue the bit arguably past it’s breaking point, it’s Larceny again 10-8 but I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s some incredible Larceny finish. More like Weller Special Reserve drops its hands and catches a lazy hook.
Overall
Weller Special Reserve: This is just not a very interesting whiskey to sit and sip on; in fact, it’s pretty flawed. The nose is nice and quite inviting, but then things roll pretty fast downhill from there. Bad to Sub-par (3.5/10)
Larceny: So you probably noticed the Costco sized bottle used in this review, and I think that appropriately illustrates the use case for this whiskey in my opinion. It’s a solid, utilitarian cocktail whiskey. I’m not willing to give it a full rating of good, since the finish is a bit of a mess, but it’s right on that line. Sub-par to Good (4.5/10)
