What makes William Larue Weller a wheated bourbon?
William Larue Weller is made from Buffalo Trace's wheated mash bill, which utilizes wheat rather than rye as the secondary grain variable alongside corn and malted barley. The 2024 release went into the barrel at a traditional 114 entry proof and was bottled uncut and unfiltered at an unmanipulated 125.8 proof (62.9% ABV). It was aged a minimum of 12 years on the lower floors of Buffalo Trace Distillery's warehouse complexes.
Why is the 2024 William Larue Weller significant?
The 2024 bottling coincides precisely with the 25th anniversary of Sazerac's historic 1999 acquisition of the Weller brand asset portfolio, which the distillery marked explicitly with this allocation run. Its proof metric dropped to a lower-velocity 125.8 signature from the record-high 133.6 proof barrier observed in 2023. Official distillery documentation maps distinctive notes of new leather, pipe tobacco, and sweet caramel on the nose, with deep caramel, marshmallow toffee, oak, and orchard fruit dominating the palate under the corporate direction of the Sazerac Company.