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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Complete List of Wheaters


From the mailbag:

Dear Sku, can you tell me all of the wheated bourbons in current production?

Wheated bourbons or "wheaters" are bourbons that use wheat instead of rye as the secondary grain after corn. They tend to be very popular with bourbon lovers. As far as I know, these are the currently in production wheated bourbons.


Heaven Hill
Old Fitzgerald
Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond
Old Fitzgerald's 1849
Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 year old
Parker's Heritage Collection 10 year old Wheated (2010 release but still available in some places)
Larceny (coming soon)

Jefferson's (McLain & Kyne)
Jefferson's Presidential Select (17 and 18 year old bottlings of bourbon from the Stitzel-Weller Distillery)

Maker's Mark (Jim Beam)
Maker's Mark
Maker's 46

Rebel Yell (Luxco)
Rebel Yell
Rebel Reserve

Van Winkle (Van Winkle/Buffalo Trace)
Old Rip Van Winkle 10
Old Rip Van Winkle 10/107
Van Winkle 12 year old Lot B
Pappy Van Winkle 15
Pappy Van Winkle 20
Pappy Van Winkle 23

Weller (Buffalo Trace)
WL Weller Special Reserve
Old Weller Antique
WL Weller 12 year old
William Larue Weller

Micro Distillery Wheaters
Arkansas Young Bourbon Whiskey (Rock Town Distillery, AR)
Blue Corn Bourbon (Don Quixote Distillery, NM)
Cody Road Bourbon(Mississippi River Distilling, IA)
Garrison Brothers Bourbon (Garrison Brothers Distillery, TX)
Smooth Ambler Yearling Bourbon (Smooth Ambler Spirits, WV)


If I missed any, please let me know in the comments.

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16 comments:

  1. DustinAugust 8, 2012 at 6:40 PM

    Would you count the most recent release of Vintage 17?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 8, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    Rock town distillery's Arkansas Young Bourbon is a wheater

    ReplyDelete
  3. tmckenzieAugust 9, 2012 at 3:45 AM

    We here at FLD are making a wheated bourbon, have been for 3 years on a limited basis. Showing good flavor so far. All in 53 gallon barrels and will probably be released at 5 years old. Mashbill is 70 corn, 20 wheat, 10 malt. Entered in at 100 proof.

    ReplyDelete
  4. skuAugust 9, 2012 at 6:34 AM

    Thanks Anon, I added Rock Town.

    Dustin, I didn't include any KBD products (there have been some Willett's wheaters too) since they can change the composition at any time and never seem to disclose the mashbills publicly.

    Tim, looking forward to trying your wheater.

    ReplyDelete
  5. maxAugust 9, 2012 at 1:24 PM

    How about a second list of which ones are worth drinking? All the BT stuff for sure, Makers ok, Jeffersons yes. Which of the HH are good? Other than PHC10, which I have given up my search for. It's fruitless :(

    ReplyDelete
  6. skuAugust 9, 2012 at 1:55 PM

    Max, good point.

    Worth drinking? I'd say the Wellers, Van Winkles and PHC 10 are top of the list. Jefferson's is pretty good. Old Fitz isn't worth much in my opinion, Rebel Yell is sludge, though I've never had the Reserve, and I haven't tried any of the micros.

    ReplyDelete
  7. sevensAugust 9, 2012 at 2:27 PM

    Smooth ambler's yearling bourbon is 60% corn, 20% wheat and 20% barley I believe. Current releases are young (under 2yrs) but I like it a lot. It will be interesting to taste as releases get older.

    ReplyDelete
  8. OlafAugust 9, 2012 at 5:19 PM

    Bernheim Original is another good wheater

    ReplyDelete
  9. skuAugust 9, 2012 at 7:10 PM

    Olaf, Bernheim is a straight wheat whiskey which is different than a wheated bourbon. Wheat whiskeys must contain at least 51% wheat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. John Q.August 11, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    I was lucky enough to sample the FLD wheated bourbon
    when I visited the Distillery back in May 2012.
    Based on the sample I had, I'm very much looking
    forward to an "official release" of this stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ilium55August 13, 2012 at 9:09 AM

    Just bought a bottle of Very Special Old Fitz 12, and its pretty good, at least as good as WL Weller 12. I had a chance to visit Don Quixote when I was last in Santa Fe, nice people, its OK bourbon, but not awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  12. sam kAugust 19, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    It's blurring the lines a bit, but Wigle Whiskey in
    P{ttsburgh is making a wheated rye whiskey. Does that count?

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2013 at 7:17 AM

    Another newer wheated whiskey you can add to the list is Wyoming Whiskey. A small batch distillery located in Kirby, WY. The Master Distiller is Steve Nally who spent many years as the Master Distiller at Makers Mark.

    ReplyDelete
  14. earfdaeOctober 31, 2014 at 11:15 AM

    Is the "regular" Jefferson Reserve also a wheated?

    ReplyDelete
  15. skuOctober 31, 2014 at 11:43 AM

    Earfdae,

    No, regular Jefferson is not a wheater. In addition, at some point, they started adding rye recipe bourbon to the Presidential 18 year old, so some of that is a mix of wheat and rye.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2019 at 10:44 PM

    I like Makers Mark cask strength the best of any that are reasonably affordable. It takes regular Maker's up a notch and is better than the Makers 45 in my opinion. It's my go to wheater.

    ReplyDelete