Stitzel Reserve, a New Label From a Storied Distillery, Begins With a 24-Year-Old Release

Stitzel-Weller remains among the most revered names in all of American whiskey. Ask any bourbon enthusiast, and they’ll gladly wax poetic about the place. Located along the industrial outskirts of Louisville, the distillery originally opened on Derby Day in 1935 and went on to fill barrels for brands as legendary as Pappy Van Winkle and Willett. When it shuttered in 1992, demand for its dwindling stock — which continues to age in cherished open-air warehouses — skyrocketed. 

Although the facility reopened as a tourist attraction in 2014, there has been no new label to provide steady access to the decades-old liquid left at Stitzel-Weller… Until now. Today marks the official launch of Stitzel Reserve, an ongoing series of extra-rare, distillery-exclusive releases designed to honor and highlight this iconic bourbon address. 

The inaugural release is a barrel-strength, 24-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon that will retail for $1,600. Only 191 bottles will be available in total.  

Clocking in at a precise (and numerically pleasing) proof of 123.4, the first volume of Stitzel Reserve blends juice from nine distinct barrels, all sourced from a single warehouse. These barrels were hand-selected by master blender Nicole Austin, who spent over two years scouring the site for exceptional casks. 

“I wanted [casks] that stood out for their liveliness and richness,” Austin tells Food & Wine. “These weren’t just oak-driven, but had real aromatic dimension. On their own, some lacked the complexity to support being bottled as a single barrel, but together, they built something layered and compelling.”

To be clear, these were vessels of liquid that spent most of their lives maturing at Stitzel-Weller. Bourbon produced on the defunct stills here was invariably of the wheated style; wheat was the secondary ingredient behind corn. Parent company Diageo would not disclose the original source of Stitzel Reserve, nor its exact mash bill, but did reveal that rye supplanted wheat in the recipe.

According to tasting notes provided by the brand, Stitzel Reserve 24-Year-Old features an intensely layered profile of cracked leather, saddle oil, and burnt sugar. 

This level of complexity and dynamism defies conventional wisdom on what a quarter-century-old bourbon ought to be. It’s a foregone conclusion by many in the whiskey world that bourbon of this age has passed its prime. In contrast to scotch, which matures in cooler temperatures — and in more neutral oak — the extreme heat cycles in Kentucky and the intensity of the charred virgin oak it rests in can lead to over-extraction of oak after two decades. To prevent this outcome, Austin surrendered herself to the meticulous and exhaustive process of sampling individual barrels. 

“The process involved literally squatting next to barrels, chalk in hand, nosing them by quality right there on the spot,” she says. “No lab samples, just instinct. I marked the ones that stood out, sometimes with a silly heart if I really loved them, so the team could sort them into appropriate vessels. That hands-on approach was the only way to find what I was looking for: barrels that still had life, complexity, and aromatic richness despite their age.”

What’s next in the series? Well, before year’s end, an even smaller allocation of liquid is set to hit the market through an exclusive bourbon collector’s club. After that, it’s entirely up to Austin what will roll out next — and when. But these extra-aged bourbons are certainly off to a good start.