47% ABV
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Bardstown, KY
The most divisive bourbon?
The Willett Pot Still Reserve, with its unique, pot-still-shaped bottle, is perhaps the most polarizing bourbon on the market. Newcomers to the category and fans of all things Willett are drawn to the bottle, while hard core bourbon snobs tend to be very vocal about their gripes about the product.
The Pot Still Reserve was released in 2008 with a shape and brand name meant to highlight the family’s traditional methods and values. It implied that unlike most bourbons, which are distilled in column stills, the Willett family employed traditional pot stills to make the Pot Still Reserve. But the veracity of that last sentence starts to uncover some of the reasons for the disdain.
Willett Distillery had been producing whiskey since its founding in 1936 but due to declining demand it began scaling back production in the mid-20th century. By the 1980s Willett had shut down its stills and was primarily sourcing whiskey from other distilleries and bottling it. In fact, Willett got quite good at finding single barrels and creating unique blends that appealed to fans of high-quality bourbon.
The company’s success as an independent bottler along with a burgeoning market for whiskey pushed the family to make a push to renovate the old distillery. And on January 21st, 2012, it had been renovated and restored to full operation and several days later, the classic pot still, the one the bottle takes after, was fired up for the first time. As mentioned earlier, the Pot Still Reserve was launched in 2008 but the actual still didn’t start operating until 2012. The math doesn’t jibe but that wasn’t a critical factor in the widespread dislike. But it didn’t exactly sit well either. The bigger issue came soon after.
Although the Pot Still Reserve was slightly misleading, the product in the bottle was quite good since Willett was sourcing barrels from companies like Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam, and Brown-Forman among others. The company was sourcing single barrels from the major distillers and bottling the Pot Still Reserve as a “single barrel” product. In other words, they were choosing an exceptional barrel and bottling it. Although there were natural variations from barrel to barrel, the bourbon in the bottle was typically delicious and well-received.
Once the company started distilling again in 2012, it began aging its own spirit with the goal of replacing the sourced whiskey with its own whiskey – a natural progression. But rather than continuing to select exceptional barrels and bottle the liquid into the Pot Still Reserve Single Barrel, Willett started selecting groups of barrels and batching them together. By 2016 the company had transitioned the product from “Single Barrel” to “Small Batch” and fans were turned off from the brand almost overnight. Longtime fans of the brand felt like the rug had been pulled out from under them. What was once an exceptional whiskey in a slightly misleading but otherwise cool-looking bottle was now a shell of itself and was more expensive to boot. Many have not forgiven the brand for this, and others have just moved on, but all the while newer bourbon drinkers see the cool-looking bottle and the Willett name, and they pull the trigger.
As time has passed, the whiskey has improved significantly from the early days of the transition to small batch. It will never be a bourbon for hard core bourbon nerds, but with a bottle shaped like a still and a proof point of 94, it was probably never meant for the boisterous bourbon snob who espouses his bourbon views on the Internet.
Pairing by: Erik Calviño
Tasting Notes: Willett Pot Still Reserve
Before getting into the notes, it should be mentioned that Willett numbers the batches of the Pot Still Reserve as there will be variation from one to the next. We are tasting from batch 22C24. Initially the whiskey feels hotter than the 94 proof suggests. When this happens, give the bourbon a moment to breathe, and when you come back to the Pot Still Reserve, you’ll find notes of caramel, vanilla, apple, citrus, and a touch of oak on the nose. The palate is fairly light and easy going with fruity flavors joined by a continuation of mild caramel and vanilla and a surprisingly zesty rye spice on the finish.
Cigar Pairing: Villiger Miami Cañonazo
The Villiger Miami Cañonazo provides an exceptionally balanced, medium-strength combination of cedar, nuts, and sweet spice with a rich, creamy mouthfeel. One sip of the whiskey followed by a puff of the smoke brings out a unique cashew and marzipan flavor to the cigar. After several puffs, the subsequent sip of the Willett cranks up the vanilla cream accompanied by a pronounced rye and oak finish.
