Stitzel-Weller Bourbon is Back at Berghoff

Depending on my mood, the Berghoff Bar is one of my favorite places to drink. The old room is beautiful and the drinks are simple: mostly beer, shots of whiskey, and some basic mixed drinks. The Berghoff has a long tradition of serving quality American whiskeys and has featured a house label for many years.

Until the early 1990s Berghoff bourbon was bottled by Stitzel-Weller, one of the premier Kentucky firms. Sadly, Stitzel-Weller went out of business in 1991 and for a while there was no Berghoff label bourbon whatsoever. When it returned after a year or two it was bottled by someone else and just hasn't been the same.

A couple months ago I was surprised to see a bottle with the old black and gold label of the Berghoff 14 year old sitting proudly behind the bar. I ordered a shot and am happy to report it's quite good. Long time Berghoff regulars who have spent many years calibrating their taste buds agree it's good but differ on whether it's the same as it used to be.

The rumor. and I think it's more than a rumor, is that the supply of Stitzel-Weller is fast running out so if you want to try some you'd probably better hurry. The management, in consultation with some of those regulars with well-calibrated taste buds (not me), is already hard at work tasting bourbons trying to come up with the next house brand.

Now I only wish they'd improve the Berghoff brand beer to what it was before they sold out to Huber, but that's not likely to happen.

Thanks for the tip! Anyone game for meeting for a post-work drink some day soon?

I agree with you, Rene, that the Berghoff's beer is not as good as it was before they started buying from Huber; the upside of it is that [I think] Huber recycled some of their Augsburger recipes into the Berghoff label. Those were good lawn-mowing beers, and I'm glad they're still around. Not the most sophisticated recipes, but hella lot better than Miller/Budweiser swill. [Ya know, we need a Mr. Ick emoticon.]

Giovanna

The Berghoff house whiskey has long been wheated bourbon from Stitzel-Weller. (Most bourbon contains rye along with corn and malt but a couple use wheat instead of rye.) Until 1972, Stitzel-Weller was owned by the Van Winkle family. After that it went through a series of owners until being closed in 1992, when production shifted to a newly built distillery a few miles away. That distillery is now owned by Heaven Hill and still produces wheated bourbon for Heaven Hill's Old Fitzgerald brand.

When the Van Winkles sold the distillery in 1972, they did so with an agreement that the new owners would sell them a certain amount of whiskey every year. As such, Julian Van Winkle has had a supply of whiskey, both from old Stitzel-Weller and from the new distillery (Bernheim is the name). Julian sells a number of different bourbon expressions under the Old Rip Van Winkle, Van Winkle Family Reserve and Pappy Van Winkle brand names, and also does private labeling. The Berghoff is his largest private label customer. I suspect the whiskey you didn't like was Bernheim whiskey. The whiskey from that plant has gotten better since Heaven Hill bought it in 2000 and put Parker and Craig Beam in charge. They have added a lot of copper to the still and made other improvements.

It is true that now, since the closing of Stitzel-Weller in 1992, the supply of whiskey from that distillery is just about exhausted and that is a shame because it is very, very good. Older Van Winkle (and Berghoff) whiskey (certainly the 14-year-old) is some of the last of it. Younger products may be from Bernheim but Julian a year or so ago established a relationship with Buffalo Trace Distillery and his younger whiskies now come from them. They are committed to doing everything they can to recreate the Van Winkle family (i.e., Stitzel-Weller) recipe at Buffalo Trace and I wish them the best of luck.

Buffalo Trace is no stranger to making wheated bourbon as they make the excellent W. L. Weller line, formerly a Stitzel-Weller product.

Thanks, Chuck, for all the details. I think I heard some of this before but always found it very confusing. It's much clearer now.

I'm afraid the supply of "old" Berghoff 14 year old bourbon (Stitzel-Weller, black and gold label) might already be exhausted. I didn't realize there was so little. When I said people had better hurry I was thinking months, not days! I believe they're still pouring the "old" 10 year old Berghoff. In addition they have a 7 year old Weller and a 5 year old Old Mock that, as I understand it, are from old stocks.

I'd be more than happy to meet for a shot or two if anyone is interested, just say when.

You ruined hunee 1, reneg, and now this! now they are out of the old berghoff and the 7-yr weller!! i guess i better get over there and have a 10-yr old be4 that is gone!!! did you learn nothing from hunee1 fiasco!!
no bourbon tastings for you AND i'm drinking the bottle of old potrero i bot for you!

Rene G wrote:Thanks, Chuck, for all the details. I think I heard some of this before but always found it very confusing. It's much clearer now.

I'm afraid the supply of "old" Berghoff 14 year old bourbon (Stitzel-Weller, black and gold label) might already be exhausted.

Rene,

Not sure if this is the same batch, but the Berghoff 14 year old was in stock as of last Friday night. Tasted mighty good to me.



Enjoy,
Gary