Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond, Fall 2019 Edition

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Ok. Time for me to eat a little crow tonight. When I first heard about this new Air Fryer fad. I was skeptical. In fact, I’d tell anyone who would listen that the one time I had “air fried” food, it arrived cold and burned. Well, it seems my wife did not listen to me because she bought one on Black Friday. We didn’t start out too fancy. Just a few breaded chicken tenders (yes, I’m actually a child). I’d been making that kind for a long time and these were the crispiest I’d had. So we tried burgers. The burgers were great too. I was such an instant convert that I opened the larger one that I had purchased for my mother so I could have two and make two things at once. I really like mine. So I need to eat crow. My wife was correct and I was not.

And just like I was initially skeptical about the air fryer fad, I was also skeptical about the new Limited Edition versions of Old Fitzgerald when they first came out. I figured it would be good, but I was a bit butthurt that the price was so high. As you know I am an innately frugal person. I’ve had trouble accepting the new pricing reality that the last ten years have brought. So I assumed that there was no way that an 11-year-old bourbon would be good enough to charge $110. And when I read the reviews, I figured I was right. Not that it mattered much, the only time I saw that one on a shelf they were asking over $200 for it.

So when the sample of the Fall 2019 edition came in, I was interested. When I saw that the price had gone up to $150, I was skeptical. Let’s see if that skepticism was warranted.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2019 Edition

Purchase Price: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is about $150.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10

Details: Made: Fall 2004. Bottled: Fall2019. 50% ABV. 15-years-old. Wheated.

Nose: Caramel, oak, vanilla, cinnamon

Mouth: Mouth-coating, rich mouthfeel. Sweet caramel, chocolate, and vanilla with oak and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Lingering caramel, coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon.

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Thoughts: This is delicious. Next time I'm in Louisville, I just might plunk down the cash in one of the bourbon bars for a pour of this one since I doubt I will find a bottle. Though if I did, I would certainly consider it, doubt my frugal nature would allow me to pull the trigger, but I would at least think about it.


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MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Paul and Merry Beth of MB Roland are my friends. Because I might be biased, I have decided to disclose that bias so that you can decide how much to trust the review. In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I am reviewing a bottle that they gave me as a gift. This was not intended by them as a review bottle, but I like it and wanted to share.

Hey Bourbon Folks,

This is going to be the last post of 2019 as I take a little time to spend with my family over the holidays. BourbonGuy.com will be back to its regularly scheduled twice per week posting as of January 2nd, 2020.

Holy Crap! 2020?!? I’m getting fucking old! In a little under two weeks, it will be the start of the sixth decade in which I have been alive. That’s nuts. But it makes sense that I feel the passage of time especially hard as this decade ends and another begins. I mean, my life has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

When the decade began, I had never traveled east of my home state. I’d been to a majority of the states west of the Mississippi, but my home state of Wisconsin (and a tiny bit of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) were my only forays east of it. I’ve now traveled to every part of the country except the Northeast. And I’ve been international a couple of times. I even decided to move away from Minnesota at one point and spent a lot of time exploring new locations to live, both digitally and in person. But then my daughter had a pregnancy scare, and we decided that it might be best to stick nearby for any future grand-kids that might happen to pop out.

As 2010 arrived, I was happily employed in Corporate Marketing. And I honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. These days, I run three separate businesses of my own, and the majority of my money no longer comes from the only employable skill I had in 2010.

I fell in love with spirits in general and bourbon in particular shortly after the turn of the last decade. For most of the first half to two thirds of the decade, I wanted to start a craft distillery and set about learning everything I could about distilling. Instead of that, I now have this site and all of you who share my bourbon journey with me. Not only that, but I also get paid to write the occasional article for other publications and to host a tasting now and then, which is not a bad gig if you can get it.

During the last decade, my wife got sick with cancer and beat it. I’ve lost many friends and family members due to age, sickness, and time; but I gained a lot of new ones as well. Many of my new friends live in Kentucky, which is nice because I have fallen in love with Louisville. I’ve gone at least once a year for most of the last ten years.

This list is only scratching the surface of the changes that my life has gone through during the last decade, and even though I decided on a different life direction than starting a distillery, some of the friends who I’ve met over the last ten years do, in fact, own distilleries. And in fact, the bottle I am reviewing tonight was a gift from one of them. It is a wheated bourbon from my friends at MB Roland. They gave my wife and I this bottle as an anniversary present back in September. Obviously, I sat on it for a while before enjoying it.

MB Roland Wheated Bourbon

Purchase info: This was received as an anniversary gift from my friends at MB Roland. I image the price is somewhere in the mid $50 to $60 range.

Price per Drink (50 ml): No idea for the reason stated above.

Details: Batch 7. 55% ABV. Mash bill of 74% white corn, 6% malted barley, 20% red winter wheat. Barrel had a #4 char. Aged stated as “at least two years.”

Nose: Dried corn, mint, cinnamon, cloves, baked apples.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon candies, caramel, chocolate.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering caramel, cinnamon and chocolate notes.

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Thoughts: I really like this one. I've been very impressed with both the wheated bourbon and the wheat whiskey that MB Roland has made. I guess I like their wheat. Both of them have had very nice chocolate notes that I wouldn't have expected to find in a whiskey that is age-stated at about two years old. That said, there are still some young notes in here, but once again the proof helps to push them aside.

As stated above , before I got distracted by the end of the decade, BourbonGuy.com is going to take the holidays off to spend time with family. Regular posts will return January 2nd, 2020. (2020!?!)


Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Larceny Barrel Proof

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! TheExpanseisback!TheExpanseisback! Ahem. I mean… The Expanse is back and I couldn’t be more excited!

Now you might be wondering just what the Expanse is and why I am so excited. Well it is possibly the best science-fiction tv show. Period. Possibly ever. And I am a sci-fi nut from way back. So much so that my seventh-grade English teacher felt the need to tell my mother during parent-teacher conferences that I should be encouraged to branch out from the genre. You know because it wasn't “serious” enough for someone that was as smart as I was.

I still think that’s a pretty weird way to give a parent a compliment.

Now the books that the TV show is based on are phenomenal. Some of my favorites ever. And yet, I can see why maybe people wouldn’t have heard of it. The Expanse had the misfortune of starting on SyFy, which is not exactly known for high-quality programming these days. Luckily, for some reason, the network decided to pour enough money into this show to make the show look really good. And then they canceled it after three seasons because it was too expensive. Luckily Rich Uncle Pennybags…err…Bezos of Amazon fame liked it as well and decided to save it and bring it over to Amazon Prime.

I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Amazon, but I am thankful for this.

And even though I have about 10 shows that I am currently bingeing, I am totally starting over to rewatch the Expanse from the beginning. Some people say that too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. Whether it is amazing tv shows, college football Bowl games, or good food. But one thing that almost no one says is a bad thing is more proof on your whiskey.

Knowing that, Heaven Hill has recently decided to put out a barrel proof version of their flagship wheated bourbon, Larceny. I’ve been a fan of Larceny since it was first released way back in 2012. In fact, Larceny is one of two wheated bourbons that I’ve consistently had on my shelf over the years. So when I heard that Heaven Hill was releasing a barrel-proof version, I was super excited. I was even more excited when a generously large sample landed on my doorstep.

Much like Heaven Hill’s other barrel-proof offering, Elijah Craig, Larceny Barrel Proof will be released in batches throughout the year. It will feature the same naming scheme with a letter denoting which release it is, a number indicating which month is was released and the year. So this release, A120, means it is the first release of the year in January of 2020. And yes, you will have to wait until January to get your hands on this. And at a suggested retail price of about $50 or so, I’d keep an eye out for it.

Larceny Barrel Proof

Purchase info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: Batch number: A 120. 61.6% ABV

Nose: Brown Sugar, cinnamon, clove, oak

Mouth: Mint, ripe berries, tobacco, honey

Finish: Long and hot. Mint and honey notes initially which are replaced by a long-lasting cinnamon candy note.

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Thoughts: This is delicious! It is a warm one though, luckily it takes water or ice very well. Compared to Larceny, this is similar on the nose. Obviously this is hotter than the standard Larceny but has a lot of the same notes on the mouth. Basically, it is just richer and the flavors are more concentrated. As you would expect.

Much like the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, this is one I will pick up every time I see it on the shelf.


Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.