Blake Riber knew he’d done something right the moment he opened the warehouse door. Across the concrete expanse, barrels of his new wheated bourbon were being dumped, and the air was thick with the scent of caramel, dark fruit and brown sugar.
“When you can smell it from that far off, that’s a good sign,” says Riber, who’s the founder of Seelbach’s, an online shop for indie and small-batch whiskey.
This was Batch 002 of Seelbach’s Private Reserve Wheated Bourbon. It’s a passion project for Riber, who entered the whiskey world as a blogger more than a decade ago. On his Bourbonr platform, he went viral among bourbon lovers for his “Poor Man’s Pappy” post documenting attempts to create a Van Winkle facsimile with a blend of Weller Antique 107 and Weller 12. “Back in the day, I could get Weller 12 with a black screw cap for $35,” he says. “That obviously changed.”
Now, he’s trying his hand at making the types of bottles fans used to find on shelves: bold, fruit-forward wheated bourbons that today require luck, painful secondary prices and/or connections. “I always had this idea in the back of my head, to bring back a well-priced, good wheated bourbon, like the Weller that sparked my love for bourbon,” Riber says.
Most bourbons use rye as the secondary grain, but all Weller and Van Winkle expressions (except the rye) swap it for wheat. “People chase wheated bourbon, whether they honestly know what that means or not,” Riber says.
Given Riber’s respect for the Van Winkle and Weller brands, and his own bourbon background, it’s no surprise his wheated offering is a blend — and priced at a reasonable $50. It’s also bottled at the iconic 107 proof of Weller Antique and Van Winkle 10 and 15 Year.
Your Local Liquor Store’s Barrel Selections Are a Whiskey Cheat Code
They’re a simple and often overlooked way to find your next favorite bottleThough Riber had long envisioned this whiskey, it took the current slowdown in the bourbon world to make it happen. “Two years ago, we never could have gotten something in the bottle at that age and proof for 50 bucks,” he says. But Riber’s contacts at Green River Distilling knew of his dream and reached out, offering not-quite-five-year and seven-year-old barrels of a 21% wheat mash bill. That share of wheat is what Riber considers the sweet spot for wheated bourbons. Higher shares of the grain, while also tasty, require longer aging. It’s also similar to the Weller and Van Winkle mash bills.
Initially, he planned to batch and bottle the older barrels on their own. But after tasting the five-year-old stock, he saw the potential in a blend. The older barrels leaned more traditional: oak, spice, structure. The younger ones added tropical fruit and sweetness. Together, they made the profile Riber was after: bright up front, soft on the finish.
To round out the blend, Riber used slow proofing, a technique borrowed from the Cognac world and popularized by blenders like Nancy Fraley and whiskey brands like Old Elk. Instead of dropping the proof all at once, he gradually brought down the alcohol over the course of months. In this case, the seven-year barrels started around 120 proof. He brought them down to 116, then closer to 110 to match the younger barrels, which were already in that range. From there, everything was blended and proofed to 107 before bottling.
“It pulls out a little more wood sugar, rounds off the sharper notes,” Riber says. “There’s definitely a difference when you slow proof.”
The result is a bourbon with balance. At 107 proof, it holds up over ice but stays smooth enough for newer drinkers. That “in-between” proof was part of the challenge — and the point. “People who are used to 80 proof think it’s moonshine. Diehards wish it was cask-strength,” Riber says. “It had to drink well for both.”
The first release, Batch 001, hit the Seelbach’s site and sold out in less than 48 hours. “I called it affordable and available,” Riber says, laughing. “And people were quick to point out it wasn’t available for long.” He intentionally kept the run small, bottling just 2,400 units. “I didn’t want to order 10,000 labels if it didn’t go well,” he adds.
Batch 002, blended and dumped during my call with Riber, is smaller still — about 700 bottles — limited by remaining label stock. But Riber says it should remain available online and in stores well into the fall while Batch 003 is in the works.
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Riber plans to grow the Private Reserve line slowly, with future batches already aging and experiments underway. He’s considering blends from other Kentucky distilleries, higher-aged stock and even multi-distillery mash bill combinations. For now, the goal is simple: Make a wheated bourbon worth chasing, and make it actually findable.
Batch 001 opens with a fruit salad of a nose with strawberries, cherries and a hit of mango over the older barrels’ spiced oak and leather. Served neat, it’s surprisingly smooth, perhaps more approachable than Weller 107. The flavor bounces around a mix of bright fruits, nutty barrel char and darker dessert notes like dried cocoa, vanilla and toffee. There’s a touch of spicy cinnamon and heat, but it provides a pleasant balance to the wheat’s sweet finish.
If, like me, you’ve chased Weller and are looking for more accessible wheated bourbons, this is a smart purchase. It’s not a Weller clone so much as a complement. The Seelbach’s bottle brings more red fruit character than its inspiration but also less than Maker’s Mark’s and its equivalent higher proof offerings. It’s unique, yet exactly what you’re looking for.
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