Several months ago, Stephen Netherton landed upon a pretty dusty find here in Kansas. Old Fitzgerald hasn’t been brought into the state in years, and finding the Bottled in Bond expression anywhere tends to be difficult. That find led to a review, with some pretty tasty results. Lucky for me, Stephen shared a pour with me shortly after his review.
Fast forward a few months. While shopping online over my lunch hour, I stumbled upon a few 1.75 liter bottles of Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond located just outside of Chicago. I’d been searching for months to no avail, but finally I had come upon it. And only after working my way through the checkout process did I learn that they would not ship that particular item to Kansas. After communicating this problem to fellow members, Jay Cary saved the day with a Chicago connection that was able to go into the score and buy a few for later export to Kansas.
Last week I twisted open that handle and had a pour. I have to say I loved it. It now stands as one of my favorite value pours. At 100 proof, for me, it hits that mark where flavors are ideally concentrated without the overshadowing of proof. However, this newer bottle certainly did not live up to my memory of the sample I tried from Stephen’s bottle.
Only a revisit of the older bottling next to the newer one would decide. I shared a sample of the newer bottle with Stephen, and he shared a sample with me.
Continue reading “Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond Revisit: They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To.”
Scott is a co-founder of Flight Club and a frequent writer and reviewer on the Club’s blog.
