Weller Millennium is the latest luxury whiskey released by Buffalo Trace. The company states that it is “comprised of a blend of vintage straight wheated bourbon and wheat whiskeys that were distilled near the turn of the millennium and matured at Buffalo Trace Distillery for various lengths of time.” While no details are included on specific ages of whiskeys used or what percentage is wheated bourbon versus wheat whiskey, the company does state that the blend consists of:

3% - 2000 Vintage Barrels
50% - 2003 Vintage Barrels
40% - 2005 Vintage Barrels
7% - 2006 Vintage Barrels

‍‍The whiskey comes in special packaging for this release, including a “750ml handcrafted crystal decanter with a custom-made crystal topper hand-etched with W.L. Weller’s original “W” stamp of quality. An illuminated display envelopes the 99-proof bottling with exactly 99 bursts while sharing the percentages of each vintage spirit inside the bottle."

‍‍While the company states limited quantities will be released, no bottle count has been made publicly available.

An immediate sense that you’re about to embark on a tasting of a well-aged whiskey greets you as you lift the glass up. Softer yet present scents of aged oak, freshly baked dinner rolls, cinnamon sticks, and light ripe cherry waft out. Inhaling deeper reveals further scents of barrel char, light vanilla, wildflower honey, subtle white peppercorn, and a drizzle of molasses. For anyone who’s ever had a “dusty” whiskey, Weller Millenium definitely gives off that same experience as you sit taking in what it has to offer. It uses its 99 proof points to deliver an aroma that absolutely nails what you’d want out of a whiskey. The scents are perfectly mingled together, never coming across as too light or too overbearing, and there’s not a hint of ethanol to ruin the experience. A truly fantastic way to start off the sip.

The nose sets an incredibly high bar that the midpoint of the sip just isn’t able to live up to. Immediate notes of aged charred oak surface and fight to hold your attention the entire time. Trying to push their way through are notes of white peppercorn spice and spiced honey, which never come across as overpowering, but do add a nice hint of spice to the mix. Subtle orange rind and cherry add contrasting bitter and sweet components, respectively. The flavors work really well together, and while the spice and fruit components are nice, there’s no denying that the dry, almost tannic oak is dominant and holds the other flavors back from truly shining to their fullest. That said, the tannic oak never comes across as a fault, instead making its presence known but stopping short of playing the villain.

The finish starts the exact same way that the palate ends, with dry, slightly tannic oak kicking things off. There’s a hefty amount of mixed peppercorn spice which quickly turns into an underlying warming heat. Additional fleeting cherry and floral notes appear along with the slightest touch of vanilla brown sugar. It’s a strong way to end the sip, but like the palate, doesn’t rise to the height of the outstanding aroma that kicked things off.

Weller Millenium is a really unique whiskey, but not necessarily because of what you may be thinking. While its high price tag is eye-popping and unique in the world of American whiskey, that’s not its most interesting aspect. That actually belongs to the fact that it is made with a wheat whiskey distilled at Buffalo Trace. While the distillery produces wheated bourbon, notably the entire Weller line, it hasn’t actually released a wheat whiskey before.

Buffalo Trace Distillery is well known for its Experimental Collection, which uses various barrels, grains, temperatures, and more, to explore what is possible with distillation and aging. Starting in 2006, the distillery released their first bottles in the collection and has done so year after year ever since. It could be theorized that Weller Millenium most likely contains barrels that were considered for, yet never released under the Experimental Collection, which adds a large amount of uniqueness to this whiskey.

Utilizing this wheat whiskey component for this release results in an end product that actually delivers when it comes to its sip. The nose is fantastic and evokes thoughts of dusty whiskeys from 50+ years ago. While the palate and finish can’t quite compare to the scents that greet you, the overall sip is nicely balanced, delivering a nuanced set of flavors that play well into the strengths of this wheat whiskey and bourbon blend.

I get the question everyone is asking, how does one even begin to assign a value to a $7,500 whiskey? They’ll be one camp that will automatically deride Weller Millenium for carrying such a high price tag, even if it turned out to be one was the best American whiskeys ever created. Others will say that whiskeys of this price range produced outside of America (by comparison) often come in a Baccarat or other high-value, usually hand-blown decanter bottles that help justify the high price point. Yet a third camp will look for more redeeming qualities of the components that make up the whiskey. Yet, a third camp will

There’s no changing the first camp's mind, no matter what you say. And while Weller Millenium does come in a “handcrafted crystal decanter with a custom-made crystal topper hand-etched with W.L. Weller’s original “W” stamp of quality,” it isn’t stated who produced the glass, unlike Woodford Reserve who partnered with Baccarat on a high priced (though still almost 75% cheaper) bourbon release. This takes a lot of wind out of trying to justify Weller Millenium’s price point.

Buffalo Trace is no stranger to releasing high-priced bourbons and touting the redeeming qualities of what makes them each special. The trend started with O.F.C. Bourbon and its $2,500 price tag, followed by  Double Eagle Rare, with an MSRP of $2,000. The company doubled down on the Eagle Rare line, releasing a special 25 year old version called Eagle Rare 25, with an eye-popping $10,000 price tag. These all make last year’s Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat Bourbon seem like a downright bargain with its $500 price tag.

Weller Millenium MSRP of $7,500 is a hard justification. The whiskey tastes really good, but even then you expect more from the company when it comes to bottles priced at this level. While Buffalo Trace is quick to disclose the blend percentages by distillation year, they don’t actually reveal what those components are. Is it a majority of wheat whiskey or wheated bourbon? While the distillation year is nice to know, what are the actual ages of the whiskeys in the blend? Did any of the whiskeys spend time in steel tanks, thus actually being lower aged than their distillation year would imply? Who made the glass decanter the whiskey comes in? It’s not as simple as saying that this is a poor value for the price, but it’s more that consumers, especially the limited few willing to pay this much for a whiskey, deserve more transparency than what the brand is actually offering.

Weller Millenium whiskey will be described by many as a blasphemy to the entire American whiskey industry, solely due to the price it carries. While I agree that its price, even for a limited rare blended whiskey, is too high, I can’t agree that this whiskey should be judged on that alone. The fact of the matter is Weller Millenium is actually a really well-constructed and thoughtfully crafted whiskey by Buffalo Trace. Case in point, the company could have just released a higher-aged, great-tasting whiskey from one of their other brands and called it a day. But instead they went further and created a whole new whiskey and blend solely for this release.

‍Not all whiskeys are meant for everyone, and Weller Millenium is a great case in point. Those who are able to buy a bottle or purchase a pour will find themselves with a whiskey full of flavor that is best meant to be sipped and savored over a period of time. Is it the most amazing whiskey Buffalo Trace Distillery has ever produced? No, it’s not. However, it is a really great whiskey that just happens to be carrying a prohibitive price tag for the vast majority of consumers, and that’s okay. Weller Millenium may not be for you, but there’s no denying that Buffalo Trace didn’t phone this release in, and hopefully, these innovative blends will make their way to more affordable and accessible whiskeys in the future.