Very Special Old Fitzgerald has always been a sentimental favorite of mine. Back in my days as archivist for United Distillers, this is one of the brands I helped develop for the Bourbon Heritage Collection. The brand was sold to Heaven Hill in the late 1990s but they have done a good job keeping the flavor profile close to the original release. Old Fitzgerald Bourbons have always had a reputation as excellent whiskeys. It was the flagship brand at Stitzel-Weller Distillery and was made with wheat instead of rye as the flavoring grain. This gives the Bourbon a softer flavor and allows the vanillas and caramels from the wood to come through in the Bourbon.
Very Special Old Fitzgerald
Proof: 90
Age: 12 years old
Nose: Caramel apple and pecans with a hint of chocolate. As it breathes it gets richer in the chocolate and caramel aromas.
Taste: Sweet ripe apple and caramel with some pecan, oak and baking spices. After tasting a dried cranberry the apple fruit comes forward with a bit of vanilla custard sweetness. A bite of pecan makes the Bourbon a little drier with lots of oak and a note of chocolate.
Finish: Starts sweet but dries out with some nice oak and a hint of pepper spice. The cranberry makes the finish very brandy-like with fruit and oak. The pecan really dries out the finish with lots of oak but not as much pepper.
This is an excellent book Bourbon. Serve yourself a healthy pour and sit down with a good book, tasting the Bourbon every 15 minutes or so. It will change as it breathes getting richer in caramel and chocolate notes. It also goes great with a cigar. I chose a Punch Vintage cigar for this Bourbon and found they played well together with the cigar bringing out the chocolate notes in the Bourbon and the Bourbon making the cigar a little spicier in a good way.
Photos Courtesy of Michael Veach
July 12, 2017 at 4:08 pm
Count me as a fan of your work – but perhaps I can up your cigar game? I’d love to share a smoke (or two) with you. I’ll be in the Louisville area by summer’s end, but if your travels take you anywhere near the Wash DC region before, don’t hesitate to reach out! Meantime, keep up the great work!
July 12, 2017 at 7:40 pm
George I would be happy to have a cigar with you.
July 12, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Excuse me if I am wrong about this, but wasn’t the 12 year discontinued a while back? I know it is no longer available where I live in northern California.
July 12, 2017 at 7:36 pm
Heaven Hill like other distillers has only a limited amount of old whiskey. They are selling the Very Special Old Fitzgerald only in their gift shop as a result. If you want a bottle you have to come to Kentucky and be prepared to pay a price for it. I believe I paid $120 for the bottle at the distillery.
July 12, 2017 at 8:11 pm
Ah! That makes sense. And I guess I consider myself very lucky then. I purchased my bottle when it was being discontinued here in CA. I paid much less for it than that. Thanks!
July 13, 2017 at 5:36 am
This was my gateway bourbon and I miss it. I was lucky enough to have another bourbon lover trade me a bottle recently so that I could have one on the shelf. It’d been two years since I tasted it and when I opened it I was astonished and saddened that this may be my last bottle. I think I would happily trade another Old Forester birthday bourbon just to have a replacement for this open bottle.