W.L. Weller is one of the most popular whiskeys from Buffalo Trace. Years ago, people started referring to it as “poor man’s Pappy” when they realized it was made from the same recipe as its much more famous sibling, but it was a lot cheaper (that still holds true, but Weller can be pretty expensive nowadays). The core identity of Weller is that it’s a wheated bourbon, but over the past few years Buffalo Trace has decided to expand the brand in some interesting ways. The most recent addition is the second release in the Daniel Weller line, an offshoot of W.L. Weller that is made using spelt wheat as a flavoring grain.

Daniel Weller launched in 2023 with Emmer Wheat, a 12-year-old bourbon made using Egyptian Emmer wheat and bottled at 94 proof. This new version was aged for 10 years and made using spelt wheat, an ancient varietal that is said to have a sweet, nutty flavor and is often used for baking or brewing beer. Buffalo Trace never releases the details of its mashbills, although there is a lot of speculation out there, but all we know for sure is that spelt wheat is the secondary grain that replaces rye, and there’s a good amount of it in the recipe.

So why use a different wheat varietal at all? The point, according to the distillery team, is to explore how different grains affect flavor while staying within the same overall parameters (and avoiding things like cask finishes or using different types of casks). “Rather than leaning on barrel innovation, we chose to strip the process back and let the wheat speak for itself,” said master distiller Harlen Wheatley in a statement. “By avoiding specialized barrel treatments and techniques, we were able to focus on how spelt wheat’s natural sweetness and distinct character influence the Weller mashbill. Its nuanced profile makes it ideal for experiments where the grain’s personality is meant to shine.” We did not get to sample this whiskey yet, but the official tasting notes describe biscuit, freshly baked cookies, and baking spice on the nose, followed by dried fruit, gentle sweetness, baking spice, and tea on the palate, with a long finish marked by notes of fruit and spice.

Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat joins a couple of other new expressions in the Weller lineup, in addition to the aforementioned Emmer Wheat. In 2024, Buffalo Trace released the high-end Weller Millennium, a blend of wheat whiskeys and wheated bourbons (a second version dropped last year). And last spring, Weller 18 Year Old arrived, the oldest age statement in the lineup that happened to be a wheat whiskey and not a bourbon. Daniel Weller Spelt Wheat is available starting this month at select retailers, but this is an expensive bottle at $550—and maybe more once it hits the secondary market based on how much Emmer Wheat is currently going for.