This whiskey draws its core character entirely from the distillery's prized wheated mash profile, substituting standard rye grain components for soft red winter wheat to construct an inherently sweeter distillate molecule. Double distilled through copper beer columns at DSP-KY-113 in Frankfort, Kentucky, the liquid entries the wood at a traditional 114 entry proof. The select barrels chosen for this 2023 vatting run were matured for approximately twelve and a half years inside Warehouses C, L, M, and N before being bottled free of water reduction under the global brand parameters managed by the Sazerac Company.

Every bottle handled by Midnight Whiskey is procured strictly through authorized, verified allocation channels and passes rigorous physical seal and label inspection points before being logged into inventory. Shipments are handled via specialized, glass-rated container packaging and absolute age-verification checks; an adult signature (21+) is strictly mandatory upon delivery. Review our complete protocols via our editorial and authentication standards.

Why is the 2023 William Larue Weller proof so high?

The 2023 release reached 133.6 proof (66.8% ABV), representing the highest strength in the brand's history at its time of release, significantly surpassing the 2022 bottling's 124.7 proof tier. It is bottled completely uncut and unfiltered, meaning this figure reflects how the wheated bourbon naturally matured across different warehouse floors rather than any artificial strength manipulation; it originally entered the barrel at 114 proof. This specific batch was distilled in the spring of 2011 and aged for approximately 12.5 years under the direct management parameters of the **Sazerac** corporate group.

What is a wheated bourbon, and how does Weller use it?

A wheated bourbon utilizes wheat instead of traditional rye as the secondary grain variable alongside corn and malted barley, which naturally introduces a softer, rounder flavor profile. **William Larue Weller** functions as the uncut, unfiltered, full barrel strength version of **Buffalo Trace Distillery**'s wheated recipe matrix, sharing its ancestral mash lineage directly with the legacy standard Weller and Pappy Van Winkle lines handled under the wider **Sazerac Company** framework.