Old Fitzgerald 15 Years Old Bottled in Bond Bourbon Review (Fall 2019)
By Richard Thomas
Rating: A
(Credit: Heaven Hill)
Among that part of the whiskey enthusiast community that mirrors the Star Wars fanbase in most respects, there was a lot of grumbling when Heaven Hill converted the Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond into an aged, premium and bi-annual limited edition expression. They croaked that it was another example of taking discontinuing one of their favorite, reasonably priced go-to products and replacing it with a new product showing only slight differences, but a substantially marked up price tag.
They have a point when it comes to the substitution of the $16 Heaven Hill 6YO Bottled in Bond with the $40 7YO Bottled in Bond earlier this year; but that kind of talk is unadulterated balderdash when applied to Old Fitzgerald. The old version was a mature, bottled in bond (BiB) version of Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon; this version is always a middle aged or full-on old version of the same stock. It’s comparable only in the minds of the willfully ignorant.
There is no better example of how ludicrous that gripe is than the fifth and most recent installment of Old Fitzgerald BiB, which at 15 Years Old is the oldest yet. Truly sharp enthusiasts should be able to think past the label, recall a little brand history and do the algebra on that one. Consider that at one point, the Van Winkle whiskeys were relying on sourced Bernheim-made wheated bourbon stock to eek things out between the original Stitzel-Weller stock and their contract production with Buffalo Trace. That makes this a bottled in bond version of what Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old was squarely based on back during the heyday of Pappymania several years ago.
Try getting that magic back for a mere $150 recommended retail price. Seriously.
The Bourbon
In the glass, this 15 year old Old Fitz BiB has a middle amber look to it. Swishing and coating the glass produces a sheet of skinny, slow-moving tears.
The scent hit me like a small plate of fig newtons with a caramel and citrus drizzle, dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg for good measure… if that plate were cut from an old barrel head, that is. The nose is balanced between thick, dark and fruity sweetness and a well-aged, woody spiciness.
In much the same way that Pappy 15 was my favorite of the lot back in the old days, so does this Old Fitz 15 manage to be a properly old bourbon. Oak is a big part of its character, but no one could call it over-oaked, so it adds to the complexity while leaving the drink nice and mellow.
Accordingly, a sip of this bourbon puts a base of melted brown sugar and vanilla, but that base has thick moody clouds of nuttiness, woodiness and spiciness floating around. The finish is the stormbreak, washing things down with oak spice and nuts.
The Price
If you can get this for the recommended $150, don’t hesitate. Just buy the thing and thank me later.
A true enthusiast would remember Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 Year. Way back in 2011 and 2012 one could purchase a 750 at 90 proof for $40. Still, they could get Old Fitzgerald BIB for less than $20. What HH did is pull the rug out from those who enjoy the original BIB. All they had to do is add 5%, rebadge and rebottle the VSOF 12 and represent this to the public at 3 times the value. You are not comparing all things equally here. What HH did with the OF BIB is worse that what they did with HH BIB, now you can’t get either the VSOF 12 or the original OF BIB.
Many fans were understandably disappointed to have an affordable favorite replaced with a pricier expression that is only somewhat different. It’s a sad trend in the business today.
That said, my point has zero to do with it. I’m pointing to the lineage of Pappy and drawing a dotted line between what Pappy 15 was about a decade ago and what this expression actually is, and it’s a good bit older than the discontinued Old Fitz expressions to boot. It’s an interesting thing to think about, and moreover this Old Fitz is a good bit cheaper than Pappy 15.