by gillmang » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:22 pm
As was mentioned earlier in the thread, it might be interesting for you to compare the Wellers with their current iteration. Weller Antique 107 proof is still available, made now at a different distillery, and is nominally 7 years old. It appears from what you have that there were, at times anyway, two versions of Weller Antique: one probably 7 years old (we can't tell from the picture detail), and one 10 years old, the Reserve. In fact, some Weller 107 proof in recent years has been 9 years old or older, and it is hard to say if this is still the case. I would think not, because the company that now has the label, called Buffalo Trace, probably used up the stock of the company it bought the label from in the late 90's and is making its own which is 7 years old in fact. However that may be, an impartial tasting would be interesting. Often, but not always, an older bottling is preferred. 8 year old Old Fitzgerald was available in recent years but perhaps not lately, and may be hard to find outside Kentucky. The Weller Antique comparison shouldn't be too hard to do, though. There has been some evaporation and if it was me, I'd add a little water to the old whiskey to make the volume a fairer comparison to the new one (i.e., added to the glass), but that is optional. I've had the chance to taste bottlings similar to yours at gatherings of whiskey fans. They often are very good with a honeyed richness. Sometimes they acquire an off-taste, which is usually a metallic or "dirty" flavor, from being overly oxidized, it is really hit or miss, but when you hit a good one you should know it. This whiskey was made at D.S.P. 16 in Louisville, a legendary distillery in American bourbon history.
Regarding the Harper, a bourbon of that name is still produced, but again not at the original site, and it is very hard to find in the U.S. since it is an export item. I bought off the lower shelf of a small liquor store some years ago, in New York, I.W. Harper made when the original producing plant was still in existence. It may have sat there for 40 years since it was distilled in the late 1960's. It had a clean, good bourbon flavor, rich but light at the same time. It wasn't fruity as I recall but had a rounded caramel note with hints of barrel char. Harper was rounded more than spicy because the rye in it wasn't that prominent. Your's albeit some decades older might be similar but perhaps heavier.
Gary