Weller Single Barrel Review: Worth the Hunt? + Elmer T. Lee Goes Cask Strength

Today on the Bourbon Bites podcast, Garrison Brothers drops a massive 141 proof cowboy burger, Buffalo Trace releases a new uncut Elmer T. Lee, and I'm sharing the biggest new game releases this month. Then I have a bite-sized review of Weller's single barrel. Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton, and this is the week of Thursday, August 13th, 2026. We're already halfway through the month. I feel like July lasted forever and August is flying by, but I'm actually here for it because this is the time of the year where we get the biggest and the best news in both bourbon and video games. We have a ton of new releases in both categories I'm going to be talking about today, plus a review of a bottle I just got my hands on that I've never had before. So let's go ahead and get into the episode. Hopefully you have something poured and you're ready to hear about what's going on in the world of whiskey and video games. We'll start with whiskey because that's why most of you are here. Let's be real. So Garrison Brothers actually have just announced two new releases, the first of which is their 2026 Cowboy Bourbon. It's going to be released next month at the distillery, and this one's going to be coming in at a 141 proof. They said there were 16,000 bottles of this produced, and each barrel that went into it was at least eight years old. And as a reminder, this is Texas whiskey, so that is a really large age statement for a whiskey of that region. And especially coming in at 141 proof, that's going to be a hot bourbon. They described the Cowboy Bourbon release as the distillery's hand-selected most prized and distinctive barrels. They say this batch comes on strong at first, but the depth of flavor quickly draws you in. They're doing a launch event at the Garrison Brothers distillery on September 12th. Something that is going to be coffee, breakfast, and lunch at the Whiskey Shack, along with live music and bottle signings, specialty cocktails, and tastings, along with distillery tours. So if you're in the area, this is definitely a fun one to go out for the release of. Now after the initial launch, it's going to be available nationwide starting on October 1st at a retail price of $250. I think that's in line with what they've done for previous year releases. It is a bit up there, but I know that people seek this bottle out, and I don't blame them. Garrison Brothers is putting out some really good stuff. It's just a little bit outside of my price range. It's definitely a try-before-I-buy kind of situation for me, but if you get your hands on it, let me know how this one is. Now also out of Garrison Brothers is the Laguna Madre 2026 release. This actually just came out this past weekend. It's the seventh annual release of this Texas favorite, and it's also an eight-year-old bourbon that's bottled at 101 proof. But in addition to that version, they're also releasing a cast-strength single barrel Laguna Madre that's coming at 135.4 proof. This is the first time they've done a cast-strength version of this release. Now pricing on these are also quite a bit tough. So the standard 101 proof version is $350, and the cast-strength single barrel is $409. Again, listen, I appreciate Garrison Brothers, but their pricing has always kind of pushed me away from their whiskey. And if you're a fan of them, please let me know how you feel that it justifies the price because I would love to hear an argument for it. For me, I've enjoyed their stuff. I just can't justify the extremely high prices of their bourbons. No shade to them. People are obviously buying it, but it's definitely not my jam. But I just want to let you guys know because those are some pretty big announcements coming from them in the next couple months. Now another fun one. This one's coming to us from Buffalo Trace. They're releasing their Elmer T. Lee 40th anniversary cast-strength release. So this has been talked about for a while. I may have actually reported on it when it was first announced back on the podcast. And this is probably one of the most talked about releases of the year. So this is a tribute to four decades of Elmer T. Lee. It actually started back in 1984. So they're a little late with this release, but it's still, you know, 40 plus years old. But this one's going to come in uncut and unfiltered at 127.8 proof. Now remember, this is using their Hi-Ri mash build number two. And other than Blanton Straight from the Barrel, this is the only other release of that mash build at cast strength. So it's going to be extremely limited when it comes out. We don't know anything about the pricing yet, but I have a feeling it's going to be one of those ones that isn't really that high priced at retail, but actually getting your hands on it, you're going to have to pay a secondary price, unfortunately. But I do love that mash build at cast strength. Blanton Straight from the Barrel is one of my favorite Buffalo Trace products. So it's definitely one to keep an eye out for. Standard Elmer T. Lee doesn't always do it for me. I think I prefer the other mash build number two bottles from them, but at cast strength, I don't know. I think that would be hard to turn down if I had a chance to buy it. So I'm keeping an eye out for that. No idea if I'll see it, but hey, I did get my hand on a really cool Buffalo Trace bottle that I've never had before, which is what I'm going to do in this week's Bite Size review. It's the Weller Single Barrel. This is the orange label Weller. So, you know, I get some allocated Buffalo Trace every now and then. So stay tuned for that review coming up later this episode. All right, one more new whiskey release I want to talk about. This is Jameson. They're coming out with their Distillers batch in the U.S. This is the newest addition of the Jameson family in the United States. They said this has matured across five hand-selected oak cast types, including X-Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry, and Virgin Irish, European, and American oak. It's kind of funny. This is the second time I've seen a whiskey that has so many different finishes. Another one is the Stillman Sonder, which I'm going to be reviewing on the channel in a couple weeks. But that one also has this crazy multi-cask finishing thing going on. And it seems like Irish is getting to the trend too, because that's a lot of different casks that are not just finishing, but maturing this whiskey. Now, this Jameson Distillers batch is going to come in at $92 proof. It's going to be available in September for a suggested retail price of $50. It's definitely one I'm going to pick up. I love whiskey that comes out of Middleton. They produce some of my favorite Irish whiskey. And I think Jameson, especially some of the more limited editions, really, really stands up and kind of showcases some of the best of what they do. I'm not expecting too much with that price, but hey, give me another chance to try something new from Middleton and I'm all for it. So like I said, it's coming out in September. I'll make sure to get a bottle and let you know what I think when it comes out. All right. Well, before we get into the biggest video game news of the month, because we have a lot of games coming out, I do want to do a quick shout out for my website, bourbonbites.com. That's where you can support the channel for as little as $2 a month and become a member of the Bite Club. Of course, the higher tier gets you access to things like our movie night, our monthly tasting, our after party hangouts, merge discounts, all the fun stuff. If you want to support the channel, you can go to bourbonbites.com or patreon.com slash bourbon bites. But most of all, just following me here on your favorite podcast platform or on Podbean or on YouTube. If you subscribe, that makes a huge difference and it makes me keep going. So whether you support by being a Bite Club member or just being a subscriber or follower, I just want to give a minute to say thank you. It does mean a lot, especially as we're getting to this heavy news cycle season because we got a lot to talk about and I have a lot to say. So cheers to the Bite Club and cheers to my followers and subscribers. All right. Well, before we get to the Bite Size review, we're going to talk about some of these new video game releases. Some of these are pretty big deals. The first one has big in the name, but it's not quite that big. Walk is a new, uh, what people call friend slop kind of game. If you're familiar with peak or RV there yet, or even among us to some degree, these multiplayer online games that are just so silly and ridiculous. There's a lot of them coming out, but none of which I've been as excited about a new release as big walk. And it's a cooperative game where you and your friends are on an abandoned Island and you have to solve puzzles across the Island to, I guess, solve some sort of mystery of I've heard it's really, really fun. And it's definitely one that you want to find your best squad to team up with. Um, I've downloaded it. I've not played it yet. So if you are part of our gamers on our discord, by the way, there's a, um, a group you can join on our discord channel that alerts you. Every time we do a gaming session, we just did one earlier this week for peak. Um, so you can just join that on at the gamers on the discord. If you have any questions, let me know. If you want to get in on some big walk gameplay, I'm hoping to do it in the next week or two, definitely join the discord server. Of course, the link to that is on bourbon bites.com as well. There's a button that says, join the bourbon bites discord server. So definitely check it out. I'm excited to play that game with you guys, but other games that are coming out this month, um, elder Scrolls oblivion remastered is coming out for the switch to this week. Now this remastered actually came out on PC and other consoles last year, but now switch to owners can join in on the fun. I'll be honest. I've not played oblivion. The only other scrolls game I've played is Skyrim. So I would love to revisit this classic, especially the remastered version. Of course, I'll probably be playing on PC, but if you are a switch to gamer, now's your chance to get your hands on it. Another new game that came out this week, grounded two, I actually just started playing grounded one last week with my husband and it's a ton of fun. It's very challenging. Basically you are shrunk down to the size of a bug and it's a survival game, but you're also crafting and doing all these types of puzzles and challenges. It's really fun. And I've been seeing the marketing for grounded two and it makes me even more excited. It seems like they've added so much to this game and built off of the things that people love. Now, this release is for PS5 owners only at this point, it's an early access release, but it's going to be coming out to other platforms. Uh, I believe later this year, it doesn't say in this announcement trailer, all it announces is the PS5 release. So, uh, stay tuned for that. I love the first game. I'm really excited for a second one. Another fun one that I just heard about wild blue skies coming out on PC, PS5 and Xbox series X and S. This is basically a star Fox 64 clone, which is kind of crazy because we just had a new, new remake of star Fox 64. Uh, but this one's legally distinct from Nintendo. So it of course shares some core gameplay, fast paced shooting and animal pilots, but it's enough of a difference that, uh, it's not officially a star Fox game. But if you look at the gameplay, it's very familiar and it looks very fun. This is definitely more of like an arcade kind of shooter. It reminds me of the classic, um, star Fox games on like 64 or even SNES. Um, it's available on PC as a demo for free. So try that out. If you're curious, I'm probably gonna pick it up right after the recording this and give it a try. Let me know if you guys want me to stream that I need to get back into streaming more games on Twitch. I went through a phase where I was doing a lot of it, but then I kind of took a break, but I've been gaming a lot more lately since I just bought a If you want to see more Twitch streams, let me know. I just never know if you guys want to see them. I enjoy playing, but you know, I'm not always the most entertaining, uh, of a commentator, but I'll get better. I promise. All right, well that does it for this week's news. Let's get into a very special bite-sized review. All right. Well, like I said, this is going to be a special bite-sized review because this is a brand new bottle for the channel or podcast. I've reviewed a lot of Weller products over the years from Special Reserve to 107 to Full Proof to 12 Year, but one bottle that I've not been able to get my hands on is the Weller Single Barrel bourbon. This is the orange label bottle. It looks very similar to the Weller 107. Um, the label is actually a little bit lighter in color. It is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey coming in at 97 proof. Um, and that's basically all we know about it. We don't know an age statement. We unfortunately don't get any info like the actual barrel number or anything like that. We just have to take them for the word that this is a single barrel expression of Weller bourbon. I was fortunate enough to pick this up from Total Wine for the price of $68.99. I think that's well in line with what retail is on it right now. I think it's officially between 50 and 60. Uh, but finding of that is, uh, pretty unheard of. Like I said, I've never seen this bottle on the shelf for any less than secondary. So I'm really, really grateful for the opportunity to pick it up and give it a try for you guys. Now, rumor has it, this is a bit older than Weller special reserve. So it's estimated to be between six and seven years old. And I'm very curious to try this because I've had the opportunity to try a few different single barrel expressions of other Wellers like the full proof store picks and the 107 picks. Um, I even had a special reserve pick at one point, but I've not had a chance to try the official Weller single barrel. I was a bit confused about this product when it was first announced. I thought they were going to move to using this for all picks moving forward. But even to this day, I still see Weller foolproof picks. So I don't know why they released a single barrel product. If they were still going to do single barrel picks of their other releases, this was announced back in 2020. And it just feels like such an awkward release in their lineup. You know, it's higher proof than CYPB and 12 year. It's lower proof than 107 and full proof. Um, but of course younger than the 12 year. So again, I have no idea who the target audience is for this particular release. I think the secondary value is just because of the rarity of this particular label. Um, like I said, it's one of the ones that I see the absolute least out of any Weller product other than of course, William Leroux Weller. That one is a, a true unicorn. So let's go ahead and get this single Weller poured. I'm a pretty big fan of the weeded Mashable from Buffalo trace. So I have a feeling I'm going to like this. I mean, I really love Weller 107. I think that's actually my favorite of the core Weller lineup, even more than full proof, honestly. And I actually prefer 107 over the 12 year. So maybe this is going to be more in line with what I like about that. Um, of course, special reserve is my least favorite because it's just, it's, it's fine. It's a great entry level bourbon that goes for a crazy secondary prices. Uh, but anything like 107 and above I'm a fan of, so I'm hopeful for this. Let's give it a nose. Oh, nice. Yeah. This is, this is everything I really like about Weller, but there is quite a bit of age on this. I mean, even compared to my memory of Weller 107, I'm getting more oak on the nose of this, not quite as dry as the 12 year based on my memory. Uh, this is telling me right now that I need to do a live stream comparing this to all the other Wellers. So if you want to see that, let me know because I can totally do it. I have the 12, one of seven full proof and this, and I think I have a sample of special reserve somewhere. So if you want to see another Weller flight with this included in it, uh, just leave a comment on this episode and let me know. But yeah, even though it has that oak, there's still that sweet, um, soft grain note to it that I think, um, I love about a weeded bourbon. To me, it's a different type of sweetness than what you would get on a rye bourbon. Rye bourbon is a little bit spicy. This is a sweetness, but not just the corn. There's a bit of a, like a dry hay kind of note to it, but this one in particular, it's almost like a honey coated, like oatmeal kind of nose. Um, just on first impression, there's a light vanilla there too, and maybe a bit of fruitiness, but it's a very subtle fruit. I'm not getting like big, strong fruit notes here. It's a little bit like, um, again, I'm going to the oatmeal example, kind of like the freeze dried blueberries or raisins that you get in instant oatmeal. Maybe a little bit of strawberry as well, but again, it's reading like a, a freeze dried fruit from like a cereal than fresh fruit. All right. It's a nice nose, but what really matters is the taste. So let's give it a try. Cheers. Not what I expected. Very different from what I remember most of the Weller lineup tasting like. Interestingly enough, it's very dry oak, but in a different way than Weller 12 expresses itself. Listen, Weller 12 is not my favorite. To me, it's not because it's over oak. It's just, it has a unique flavor profile that just doesn't vibe with me. And I know a lot of people love it, but it's just one that's always been kind of mad to me. This is what I would expect Weller 12 to taste like. Honestly, it tastes like a higher oaked version of what I like about Weller 107, but with the subtleness of, you know, the lower proof, because we're getting down 10 proof points from that one. Now, of course, this is a single barrel, so every single barrel is going to taste different. I'm sure, but I'm not sure if there's a standard profile they're going for with these, but to me, this is really nice. It's way more oak forward than I would have ever expected. Honestly, it doesn't even taste like their weeded mash bill. You could fool me and tell me this is either a Buffalo Trace store pick or, you know, an Eagle Rare 10. It doesn't have that cherry or grapiness that people get on Eagle Rare, but it's got that oak and that really sweet caramel flavor profile of just standard Buffalo Trace, so that kind of caught me off guard. Yeah, the oak is really dominating here. I like that, but it's very different from any other Weller I've ever had before, so if you don't like those really intense dry oak notes, then you might not be a fan of this one. Finish-wise, it kind of goes a little more into familiar territory. It goes into, like, a bit of brown sugar. A little bit of that fruitiness comes back on the very, very back end. I would say medium to medium-long finish. Not incredibly long, of course, but definitely holds up from tip of the tongue to back of the palate. I honestly thought I would be disappointed by the but because it has that extra oak element to it, I feel like it kind of makes up for what it's missing compared to, like, a Weller 107. Honestly, I would put this on the same caliber as that whiskey, believe it or not. I think that one, to me, I prefer because it is the higher proof, but this tastes like an older expression of that just proofed down a little bit, so it really just depends on your preferences, but I think both of them are pretty solid releases when you consider MSRP, right? But of course, on the Bourbon Bites podcast, we do bite-sized reviews, so I just give it a score out of 10. You know, I don't break it down by price, proof, availability, anything like that. Just how I feel about it in general. Because this is such a limited allocated bourbon, I'm just going to say right off the bat, don't pay secondary for this. Don't pay over $150 for this bottle. I paid about $70. I think that's fair. I'm not disappointed for paying that. It's a unique bottle that I've never had in my collection. Do I think it's worth much more than that? Not really. Would I rather have Weller 107? That is to be determined. Like I said, I'm going to do a live stream on my YouTube channel, youtube.com slash bourbon bites, and compare this directly to a Weller 107 and see which one I prefer. It's going to be a tight one because I think there are things I love in both. But that being said, my score for this particular bourbon at retail, I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10. And I think the only thing holding it back is one, I would love an age statement or at least some info about the particular barrel. Because if you release a single barrel product, us whiskey nerds like to know more about that barrel. That's why I love what Knob Creek does with their single barrel releases. You know, they tell you the warehouse number, the location, and you know, other brands do it too. Four Roses, lots of other brands tell you info about the barrel itself. If you're selling a premium product like this, well, even though it's technically retail only I still consider that a premium bourbon. I would love to know more details, especially if you can reveal an age statement, because again, it is a single barrel. We expect them to vary depending on you know, the release. So give us more info and I would bump that up to an 8 out of 10, maybe an 8.5, even if it ends up being older than I thought. But in general, it's a solid Weller bourbon. And I think if you're okay with a little bit more oak than usual, you're going to love this bottle. So that's my thoughts. Let me know if you've had a chance to try one of these. How did your single barrel taste? Was it different than this completely? Or am I on the right track? Is this kind of the flavor profile they've determined for these single barrels? Again, I'd love to know Buffalo Trace's reason for having this product at all, especially when they're doing single barrel picks of the 107 and foolproof. Would love to get in contact with their marketing team to find that out. But for now, this is all you got. So yeah, 7.5 out of 10. It's solid. Don't pay secondary, but for retail, yeah, give it a try for sure. All right, well, that does it for this week's episode. Thank you all so much for listening. If you're new here, make sure to follow me wherever you get your podcast, or we can find this on youtube.com. I also have the podcast there. So thank you all for listening. This has been the Bourbon Bites podcast, a whiskey podcast with a gaming twist. Cheers, and I'll talk to you next episode.