Old Fitzgerald's 1849 was a wheated Kentucky bourbon from the Old Fitzgerald family, sold for many years with an 8-year age statement at 90 proof. This is an older bottling, a chance to taste the soft, wheat-led house style from an earlier era of American whiskey.
About This Bourbon
Photographed and auctioned examples of 1849 with an 8-year statement are labelled 90 proof and name the Old Fitzgerald Distillery, the house name for Stitzel-Weller. Other eras of 1849 carried a 10-year statement or none at all. Treat the bottle as a collector's piece first and a drink second, and keep it upright away from light.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Soft caramel and old oak, with vanilla, baked apple and a dusty, dried-fruit edge.
- Palate: Rounded and gentle, with wheat bread sweetness, honey, light cinnamon and seasoned wood.
- Finish: Medium length and mellow, fading on vanilla, leather and a little dry spice.
Serving & Food
Open it for a special evening and taste it at room temperature from a copita or small tulip, neat, before trying a splash of water. Match it with salted pecans, a mild blue cheese, or bread-and-butter pudding.
How to Enjoy
Old-bottle hunters and drinkers curious about the wheated style before the modern bourbon boom.
Product Details
Brand: Old Fitzgerald's 1849
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey (wheated)
Age statement: 8 years old
Proof: 90 proof / 45% ABV (as labelled on 8-year bottlings)
Era: Older release
Format: 750mL
About the Distillery
Old Fitzgerald became a wheated bourbon under Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle, who acquired the brand during Prohibition and swapped rye for wheat as the flavouring grain. It was made for decades at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Shively, Louisville, alongside the W.L. Weller labels, and its range ran from Prime and Bottled in Bond up to the aged Very Very Old Fitzgerald.
Stitzel-Weller stopped distilling in 1992 and production moved to the new Bernheim Distillery in Louisville. Heaven Hill, the family-owned Bardstown company, bought the brand and Bernheim in 1999. Its wheated whiskey carries the line today through the Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond decanters and Larceny, while 1849 has left the range.
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