After a 10 year old expression last Spring, Old Fitzgerald’s Fall 2024 release — which we just received, mind you — ratchets the age up to 11 years old. As always, it’s a bonded expression at 100 proof, featuring the classic wheated Old Fitz recipe.

The trademark corn and peanut aroma of Old Fitzgerald is downplayed on this edition of the whiskey, which instead features a spicier nose we don’t typically see from the brand. There’s some more typical old leather here alongside dried florals, with a whip of licorice emerging with ample time in glass. An interesting fruitiness comes into focus further down the road, landing somewhere between Maraska cherry and rhubarb.

The palate immediately evokes butterscotch and hazelnut, making for a lively candy bar quality that, with a few seconds, finally showcases that chocolate-covered peanut character I’d expected since the start. It’s a more straightforward experience at first, eventually meandering into notes of fresh spearmint, then wet leather and a reprise of licorice, more anise-driven here. Notes of cloves and pencil lead take us to a finish that ends up both lightly sweet and a touch oaky, the layer of peppery char here punctuating the most wood-evocative part of the experience — and also showcases a bit of austerity that surprises given what’s come before.

Altogether, it’s an excellent Old Fitz Bonded expression.

100 proof.

A- / $155

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