Old Fitzgerald

Old Fitzgerald is a premium bourbon that carries the historic Bottled In Bond designation. It is produced in the famous American whiskey state of Kentucky. The brand has long been regarded as one of the world's best bourbons, being a firm favourite of bourbon connoisseurs. Old Fitzgerald also consistently wins top awards around the world.

Old Fitzgerald is a wheated bourbon, meaning there is a higher wheat content than usual in the mash bill. This gives a rounded and soft style of spirit. For Old Fitzgerald, this spirit is aged for a significant time to create complex notes of earthy cereals, brown sugar, oak and cedarwood.

The production of Old Fitzgerald takes place at Heaven Hill's Bernheim distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. The spirit undergoes a slow ageing process in American white oak barrels, before being selected and bottled in small batches. The whiskeys are presented in glass decanters inspired by the brand's bottle from the 1950s.

In recent years, the brand has only been released each Spring and Autumn as the Old Fitzgerald Decanter Series. Ages vary with each edition but are always of significant age. The youngest has been the 8 years old Bottled-In-Bond (2021 Spring Release) and the oldest the 15 years old Bottled-In-Bond (2019 Fall Release). They are always bottled at high Proof strength (ABV). Bottled-In-Bond is a designation that shows an American-made spirit has been aged and bottled following a strict set of legal regulations. These were laid out by the US Government's Bottled-In-Bond Act 1897.

Old Fitzgerald was established by John E. Fitzgerald in 1870. His bourbon became known as Old Fitz from 1884 onwards but was not initially on general sale. Fitzgerald sold his 'Private Label' whiskey to exclusive gentleman's clubs and luxury travel companies. This was stocked places such as steamship lounges and railway first class carriages. Not until 1900 was it sold elsewhere as the company started marketing in America and Europe.

During the Prohibition period in America (1920-1933) Old Fitzgerald was purchased by Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle. The legendary bourbon figure changed Old Fitz's mashbill and switched a heavy rye content for higher wheat percentage. This was to give a softer spirit more suited to the modern palate and use within cocktails.

Spirit production began at Van Winkle's new Stitzel-Weller distillery in Louisville, Kentucky during 1935. The Van Winkle's sold Stitzel-Weller in 1972 and it eventually became part of United Distillers. This later evolved into Diageo. They closed the distillery in 1992 after building their own Bernheim distillery, also in Louisville, a year earlier.

Diageo sold Bernheim and the Old Fitzgerald brand to Heaven Hill in the late 1990s. Bernheim was purchased to replace their own Bardstown distillery, which had been destroyed by fire in 1996. Heaven Hill remains as owner of the brand and continues to produce Old Fitzgerald at Bernheim. The legacy of Old Fitzgerald also lives on in another wheated bourbon brand from Heaven Hill named Larceny.