After an 8 year old expression in Fall 2023 (which didn’t arrive until well into 2024), Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond wheated bourbon is back with a new 10 year old offering, distilled in the Spring of 2014.

Old Fitz is almost always a corn-heavy expression and this bottling doesn’t rock the boat. Notes of cracked black pepper, fresh cereal (lightly sweetened), and honey are all dominant on the nose, with an underbelly of cracked, old leather. Floral notes emerge and present themselves as dried, almost showcasing a dried grass quality, adjacent to potpourri without being particularly perfumed. On the whole the expression is rather more austere than we’ve seen in previous bottlings.

On the palate, an intense spice quickly takes hold, though the initial rush is quickly tamed. The racy punch first resembles rye, but it is whisked into the background by tempering notes of sweet Corn Pops cereal, maple syrup, and some milk chocolate. A peppery fringe continues to peek its head around the corner, though, weaving in and out of the experience and keeping any underlying, darker fruit well in check. The finish is long and leans heavily on grassy, leathery austerity, making for one of the most frontier-like whiskeys in the Old Fitz Bonded lineup to date — for better or for worse.

100 proof.

B+ / $110

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 10 Years Old Spring 2024 Edition

$110

8.5

Rating

8.5/10