Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond Bourbon Review (Autumn 2018)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond (Autumn 2018 is a 9 year old)
(Credit: Heaven Hill)

When Heaven Hill introduced the new Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond (BiB) as a bi-annual limited edition, the usual grumbling was (refreshingly) muted, but absent. What croaking I saw about that Spring 2018 release scoffed at paying $110 for an 11 year old bourbon, complaining that you can still get 10 year old Henry McKenna as a bottled in bond single barrel for a quarter that amount.

TRUE! Henry McKenna is arguably the best bargain you can get off a bourbon shelf today, and on paper it stacks up well against the Old Fitzgerald BiB (either from the spring or this latest edition, which I will address shortly). However, booze is one of those things where you spend more money for ever slighter improvements. Frankly, a $2000 bottle of Pappy Van Winkle is really only worth it to those who can spend $2,000 and not feel the pinch.

Keeping that in mind, I thought the first Old Fitzgerald BiB was worth what they were asking for it. Whether the series as a whole will always be that way is another question, and so we come to its second installment, Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond Fall 2018. Distilled in October 2008 and bottled in August 2018, it’s a not-quite-10 year old (9 years, 10 months).

The Bourbon
The look of this Old Fitz in the glass is not the expected amber, being almost golden. Gold doesn’t tarnish, but there if you put a coppery, tarnished look on gold, that coloring would be what this Autumn 2018 release looks like. The coating drops a few skinny legs down the glass.

The nose is a step outside of your expected bourbon territory too, being spicy and nutty in the main, accompanied by mere notes of the expected vanilla and oak. On the palate, the whiskey turns back solidly into bourbon territory. I didn’t pick up the nuts from the scent at all, but this is perhaps because the spicy, woody heat rises up to swamp the sweet side of the flavor. This hot spicy subsides in the finish to leave a sweeter, cake spices character behind.

To return to the croaker point, I liked the first Old Fitz BiB more than Henry McKenna, but this one a little less.

The Price
This Old Fitz is priced at less than what it’s predecessor was, going for $90 a bottle.