Within the spring of 2026, Buffalo Hint launched the second launch in its Daniel Weller experimental sequence: Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat Bourbon. Daniel Weller, grandfather of William Larue Weller, settled in Kentucky in 1794 and entered the whiskey commerce in 1849. Over time, the Weller identify grew to become carefully tied to wheated bourbon as a method. This launch builds on that legacy whereas testing its limits, asking what occurs when one of many oldest wheat strains on the planet takes the place of the grain behind “The Authentic Wheated Bourbon.” That grain is spelt.
You’ve most likely seen spelt earlier than. It reveals up on ingredient lists, bakery menus, possibly a bag of flour to procure as soon as with good intentions. Then it drifts out of thoughts. That’s truthful. Most individuals deal with it that method. Nonetheless, spelt carries a narrative that goes nicely past the health-food aisle, and earlier than entering into what Buffalo Hint has achieved right here, it helps to grasp what it’s and the way it managed to stay round in any respect.
Spelt isn’t a contemporary rediscovery or a advertising invention. It’s historic. Archaeological data hint it again to the Fertile Crescent, in what’s now Iraq, round 5000 BCE. It fed early civilizations lengthy earlier than trendy agriculture took form. It seems in biblical texts, in Roman writing, even in medieval literature. Because the Roman Empire unfold throughout Europe, spelt went with it, turning into a dietary staple for hundreds of years. Not a specialty merchandise, not a distinct segment grain. Simply meals.
For a lot of that point, although, it carried a fame as a peasant staple. Refined wheat was related to wealth and standing. Spelt fed everybody else. That makes its position in a restricted, extremely allotted bourbon launch with a $550 price ticket really feel somewhat poetic.
What units spelt aside from the wheat most of us know comes right down to each construction and farming. The grain is encased in a thick outer hull that doesn’t separate simply. Trendy wheat was bred to shed that layer throughout harvest, which streamlined manufacturing and reduce prices. Spelt by no means adopted that path. Its hull stays intact till it’s mechanically eliminated, defending the grain alongside the way in which. It’s a built-in safeguard, but it surely additionally means extra effort earlier than it may be used.
That further step is a giant a part of why spelt pale from large-scale agriculture. As industrial farming took maintain within the early twentieth century, effectivity drove choices. Typical wheat yields extra per acre and requires much less processing. By the Nineteen Seventies, spelt had almost disappeared from North American fields. A grain cultivated for 1000’s of years was pushed apart in a matter of many years, not as a result of it lacked high quality, however as a result of it slowed issues down.
That distinction lands otherwise when you consider bourbon’s personal historical past. There have been stretches the place output and margins mattered greater than course of, the place storytelling outpaced substance. When comfort takes the lead, one thing often will get left behind. The query is what, precisely.
Spelt doesn’t behave just like the wheat sometimes utilized in bourbon. Normal wheated mashbills depend on a grain that softens edges and lets different components take heart stage. It brings a light-weight sweetness and a rounded really feel, creating stability with out drawing consideration to itself. It’s there to help, to not stand out.
Spelt takes a unique method. Its taste carries a transparent nuttiness, with notes of toasted grain and biscuit, even one thing that edges nearer to malted barley than to traditional wheat. There’s additionally a thread of baking spice operating by means of it, with clove and a little bit of cinnamon. It ferments a bit otherwise, with fewer sugars obtainable, which might result in a drier end and a extra outlined, exact impression on the palate. Some distillers place it someplace between wheat and rye in character, much less light than one, much less sharp than the opposite. It doesn’t fade into the background.
Swapping spelt right into a wheated bourbon mashbill isn’t a small tweak. It adjustments the muse. The anticipated profile shifts, and with it, the id of the whiskey.
Buffalo Hint approached this launch with a light-weight contact. No ending barrels, no uncommon cooperage, no further dealing with to form the result. The concept, in keeping with Harlen Wheatley, is to provide the grain nowhere to cover and nothing to lean on. The bourbon aged for ten years underneath normal situations and was bottled at 94 proof, retaining the Weller blueprint intact aside from the grain itself.
That sort of method solely works if the ingredient can carry the load. Strip issues again too far and flaws have a tendency to point out. Buffalo Hint appears assured that spelt brings sufficient by itself. It’s a grain that’s been by means of cycles of widespread use, close to disappearance, and quiet reemergence. It hasn’t been refined into neutrality. It hasn’t been optimized into sameness.
So the actual query isn’t concerning the historical past or the method. It comes right down to the glass. Does all of this present up when it issues?
Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat Bourbon Evaluation
The nostril opens with hazelnut espresso creamer and chamomile. Give it somewhat time and clove and dried apricot transfer to the entrance, with brown butter exhibiting up in a while. In comparison with Weller Bourbon 12 Years Outdated which is often constructed round caramel, vanilla, honey, and comfortable orchard fruit, this comes throughout as much less candy and extra targeted on nuttier, grain-driven aromas with a barely earthier edge.
On the palate, dry cocoa powder and hazelnut praline prepared the ground. The mid-palate brings in whole-grain toast and dates. It begins off dry, nearly powdery throughout the mouth, then progressively turns extra expressive and juicy because it sits. Weller 12, by comparability, sometimes opens sweeter instantly with caramel and vanilla, adopted by mild fruit and delicate oak. The place Weller 12 stays rounded and dessert-leaning, this pushes additional into cocoa, toasted grain, and a drier general profile earlier than opening up.
The end returns to roasted hazelnuts and unsweetened dried apricot. A contact of darkish honey arrives late, joined by nutmeg, including a closing little bit of sweetness. Weller 12 often closes on caramel, comfortable oak, and regular sweetness, whereas this takes a extra nut-forward, evenly spiced path with that delayed sweetness exhibiting up close to the tip.
It is a excellent bourbon and a genuinely totally different tackle a wheated profile. Utilizing spelt as a substitute of ordinary wheat shifts the expertise in a noticeable method throughout the nostril, palate, and end, giving it extra emphasis on nuts, cocoa, and toasted grain. Weller 12 12 months stays essentially the most pure comparability level given the same age and proof, and it highlights simply how totally different the grain alternative could be.
Even so, it’s truthful to ask whether or not that is meaningfully higher than Weller 12 12 months, and it isn’t. The standard is excessive, however the hole between the 2 doesn’t come near matching the value distinction. At $550, it’s onerous to justify chasing a bottle when Weller 12 already delivers a sweeter, extra traditional wheated profile at a fraction of the price. If this landed nearer to $150, it might be a lot simpler to advocate with out hesitation.
94 proof
A- / $550
Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat Bourbon
USD550
