Stitzel-Weller Distillery is releasing Stitzel Reserve 31-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskey, its oldest bourbon yet, the brand announced today in a press release. The 31-year-old bourbon is now available exclusively at the Diageo-owned Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville, Ky., for $3,000 per 750-milliliter bottle, and, with only 176 bottles available, purchase is limited to one per person.
“At Stitzel-Weller Distillery, our aging conditions have allowed us to carefully steward barrels like this over time in a way that very few distilleries in Kentucky can,” says Nicole Austin, chief custodian at Stitzel-Weller Distillery and director of American whiskey liquid development and capabilities at Diageo, in the release.
The new bourbon is only the second whiskey to join the Stitzel Reserve line, which debuted just under a year ago with a 24-year-old whiskey. The collection’s newest addition is seven years older than and a near-20-percent ABV markup from the collection’s inaugural expression.
Brand tasting notes highlight orchard fruit, brandy, cedar, and citrus on the nose. Given its 81.6 percent ABV — the average bourbon comes in around 40 to 50 percent — the palate is boozy with notes of dark fruit and strongly textured with oak tannins, leading into a long finish.
The bourbon was distilled in 1992, matured in a mere 13 barrels, and bottled just two days ago. Stitzel-Weller’s newest high-age-statement release comes amid a slew of distilleries around the world launching expressions with long maturation periods — likely a result of the country’s glut of barrels. Within the past two months, Eagle Rare and Heaven Hill Distillery both released their own oldest bourbons yet.
