2025 Blade and Bow 30yr 107.0°

 

Nose:  Stitzel… but with more maturity.  Much of the Stitzel out there that offers this same nose are the “Gold Vein,” “Very Very Old Fitzgerald” and limited other Stitzel Weller products that still remain.  But those mainly has been younger in nature… There is Blade and Bow 22 year, but the slightly lower proof leaves one wanting a little more.  This nose reminds you of a time long gone.  A place that only exist within the memories of many of those approaching the end of life.  This taste offers the opportunity to go back in time, even if only for moment to relive the golden era of bourbon.  That sweetness is like the sun rising on the lake, just enough warmth, but allows you to bast in the glory of it.  The iconic Stitzel sweetness that seems to have a vestige of the rickhouse in the back.  The backdrop lingers of a funk… that keeps you intrigued.  That grandeur of this nose is the simplicity of the sweetness while displaying timelessness.       

 

Palate:  If you have been to Stitzel Weller, this taste brings me back there immediately.  The distillery is an anachronism it seems… something out of place in this chaotic world of ours.  This world of fast paced advancement, Stitzel Weller, brings you back to the 80s with older rickhouses, trees on campus with leaves falling.  If I could offer the notion of historical America, I feel a picture there may very well demonstrate that essence.  This taste, bring me back there.  An autumn day as the leaves are orange to brown – the front sweetness like a sunset to the oak of a falling leaf slowly swinging back and forth until it hits the earth.  The depth of the mid-palate isn’t immensely dense, but it didn’t need to.  It just offers the best that is Stitzel, simple, smooth, sweet but a backdrop of oak while maintaining elements of funkiness.  If there is a quintessential seeping bourbon, I think this would be it.    

 

Verdict:  You know… the story goes like this.  Imagine if you are a precocious distiller and was given the keys to the Distillery – you are 25 years old.  You create your first batch of bourbon – it takes twenty years for your first batch to be done.  After taking everything you learned in those twenty years, you make your second batch of bourbon – the quality has improved.  Then after another twenty years, that second batch is entirely done.  After forty years of commitment, you are a TRUE master distiller; at this point, 65 years old.  Then you make your third batch… it is likely one may not live to enjoy the final product of all the labor, all that dedication, all the commitment, all the love.  When tasting this spirit, I am truly getting the honor to taste the legacy of a true master distiller… something priceless… a dedicated soul that never had the opportunity to revel in their perfection.