Willett Family Estate 17 Year Single Barrel Bourbon #1544 120.4 Proof 750ml

Barrel #1544 at 120.4 proof after seventeen years — a Willett Family Estate single barrel from the sourced era, and one of only 77 bottles the cask produced.

Seventy-seven bottles is an extraordinarily small yield, even for long-aged stock. Seventeen Kentucky summers had taken most of what was in the barrel before it was dumped, and what was left went into the bottle uncut at 60.2% ABV. This one is hand-numbered 55 of 77.

Willett did not resume distilling at Bardstown until 2012, so seventeen-year whiskey under the Family Estate label was sourced from another Kentucky producer, hand selected by Willett and bottled individually. The bottle does not identify the distillery of origin, and attributing one without documentation would be speculation — what's documented is the barrel, the age, the proof and the count.

Tasting Profile

Deep caramel, aged oak, dark cherry, vanilla, leather and baking spice on the nose; rich and mature on the palate with dried fruit, seasoned oak and cinnamon, closing exceptionally long. Single-barrel whiskey varies cask to cask, so this reflects what seventeen years at this proof is known for rather than notes from this bottle.

Specs

• Brand: Willett Family Estate
• Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Release: Single barrel, hand selected and hand bottled
• Age: 17 years
• Barrel: #1544
• Proof: 120.4 (60.2% ABV)
• Bottle: 55 of 77
• Origin: Sourced Kentucky bourbon — not distilled by Willett
• Bottled by: Willett Distillery, Bardstown, Kentucky
• Size: 750ml

Explore the full Willett collection or browse all bourbon at Wooden Cork.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Only 77 bottles — is that unusually few? Very. A freshly filled barrel holds enough for roughly 250 bottles; seventeen years of evaporation in Kentucky can take two thirds of that. A 77-bottle yield means this cask was near the end of what it could give, which is also why whiskey from barrels like it is concentrated.
• Did Willett distil it? No. Willett's own distillation resumed in 2012, so seventeen-year stock under this label was bought as mature bourbon from another Kentucky producer and selected by Willett. The distillery isn't named on the bottle and we don't attribute one without documentation.
• Does seventeen years mean it's over-oaked? Not necessarily — that's precisely what barrel selection is for. Plenty of Kentucky casks are tannic and dried out by that age, and the reason single barrels from this era are collected is that Willett tasted through them and bottled the ones that held together.