Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald bottled-in-bond lineup continues with the Spring 2020 release. Like the rest of the revamped lineup, Old Fitzgerald comes to us as a 9-year-old bottled-in-bond bourbon. That means it is bottled at 100 proof, is at least four years old, produced by one distillery, and was distilled in one distillation season. Old Fitzgerald is made from Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbon mash bill, which uses wheat as the secondary grain.

The nose supplies hints of toasted wheat bread, honey, and some ripe, fresh fruit. Taste-wise, brown sugar and baking spices give way to vanilla cream. Some oaky astringency appears in the back palate. The finish is warming and sweet, with lingering notes of spiced honey and orange peel.

The oak and sweet notes don’t appear to be completely in sync with one another, which keeps this release from being excellent. The Spring 2020 release of Old Fitzgerald is an overall solid effort. It’s as good if not better than the previous 9-year-old expression released in 2018. Nonetheless, fans of Old Fitz should be happy with this one.

Thanks to Heaven Hill for the sample. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.