Heaven Hill relaunched the Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond series in 2018, ditching the old handle-bottle format and reintroducing it in a striking, tall decanter inspired by the original mid-century Old Fitz packaging. Each edition is released twice a year — spring and fall — with the age statement changing from batch to batch, always bottled at exactly 100 proof under the 1897 Bottled in Bond Act.
The 13 year release is one of the older editions in the reborn series, drawn from Heaven Hill's wheated mash bill — the same recipe family that gave the Old Fitzgerald name its reputation back when Pappy Van Winkle was still running the brand out of Stitzel-Weller. Heaven Hill acquired Old Fitzgerald from Diageo in 1999, and the wheated stocks have been slowly rebuilt in the Bardstown warehouses ever since.
Thirteen years is a long time for a wheated bourbon to sit in heavily charred oak — wheat tends to absorb wood character more rapidly than rye recipes, so older wheaters walk a tight line between plush and over-oaked. This release manages it beautifully. The vintage decanter bottle is designed to look at home on a back bar next to bottles from the 1950s, and the whiskey inside is consciously styled to feel like an old-fashioned, unhurried Kentucky pour.
It has become one of the more quietly collectible modern releases in the wheated category, and while prices on secondary markets have climbed, the whiskey itself rewards drinking rather than hoarding. A slow neat pour in a heavy glass is the way to meet it — it unfolds gradually, the way a good wheated bourbon should.
