Like many bourbons, Old Fitzgerald has a long and rather winding history. Originally created in 1870, the brand found its post-Prohibition home at Stitzel-Weller, where it landed in the hands of none other than Pappy Van Winkle himself. It was Pappy who changed the recipe to feature wheat, rather than rye, as the secondary grain. By 1999, Old Fitzgerald was acquired by Heaven Hill, where it languished as a relatively low-end label and even disappeared for a few years. 

Then in 2018, Heaven Hill relaunched the brand as a semiannual, bottled-in-bond release, with an age statement that varied from batch to batch. Packaged in an elegant, decanter-style bottle, the new Old Fitz became very popular among bourbon drinkers eager for a well-aged wheater, but reluctant to spend big bucks on the likes of Van Winkle or William Larue Weller. The oldest release so far, at 19 years old, was the Fall 2022 edition, though younger offerings—notably the 8-year-old from Spring 2021—meet all the same standards of quality and flavor. 

Building on the success of the decanter series, Heaven Hill introduced a permanent expression in 2025. Old Fitzgerald 7 Year Old is bottled-in-bond like the other expressions, but it has a consistent age statement, it's packaged in a less ornate bottle, and it's priced to sell at $60. Like its elder siblings, the whiskey has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. As an everyday pour, it’s hard to beat—warm and sweetly bready, with a lush texture and deep but balanced oak. 

Across the lineup, Old Fitzgerald gets top marks for consistency, and the decanter lineup is chock-full of standouts. Even when it’s constrained by the limitations of the bottled-in-bond designation, which dictates that all barrels must come from a single distilling season, finding exceptional whiskey is easy for Heaven Hill because it has so much to choose from. The company’s Louisville distillery is capable of producing 400,000 barrels a year, and the recently opened Bardstown plant adds another 150,000 annual barrels to that capacity.

But there’s much to explore beyond Old Fitz. As both wheaters and bonded bourbons have exploded in popularity, excellent options abound, many of them still well under the radar. Keep reading for five of our favorites.

Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon

One of Kentucky’s newer distilleries, Wilderness Trail, set itself apart from the get-go by using sweet mash, meaning its fermentations forego the traditional setback and always start with fresh yeast. The process creates a more consistent spirit, according to the distillery team, with a softer mouthfeel—especially with a mashbill of 64% corn, 24% wheat, and 12% malted barley that emphasizes herbaceous mint and coffee bean notes. After debuting at about four and half years old in 2018, this bourbon—always bottled-in-bond—has increased in age and varied in proof. 

Bardstown Bourbon Company Bottled-in-Bond

Using the same 68-20-12 mashbill as Old Fitzgerald, the house wheater of Bardstown Bourbon Co. features Kentucky-grown corn and wheat. It’s aged for six years, although it tastes older than that, with a brooding earthiness offset by roasted nuts and Concord grapes. The Bardstown lineup underwent a packaging redesign recently—this one has the black label that prominently announces its bottled-in-bond status.

Holladay Soft Red Wheat

Another bonded 6-year-old, this bourbon comes from Missouri rather than Kentucky. It’s made from a mashbill of 73% Missouri corn, 15% soft red winter wheat, and 12% malted barley. The specific type of wheat isn’t just for kicks—its lower protein levels yield a softer (some might even say smoother) spirit that only gets more nuanced with time in the barrel. In this case, Holladay has crafted a bourbon with mature herbal notes juxtaposed with caramel sweetness and black pepper. 

Rebel 10-Year-Old

Offered as a single barrel release, this bourbon isn’t bottled-in-bond, but still comes in at 100 proof like its bonded peers. The brand is owned by Lux Row, which was acquired by MGP in 2021, but the whiskey itself was contract-distilled elsewhere in Kentucky. The familiar mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley should give you a clue as to its origins—and its quality. 

Larceny Barrel Proof

Call this the Old Fitz booster pack. It comes from the same distillery and is made using the same mashbill, but punches through with a more powerful proof—anywhere from 111 to 126, or sometimes even higher. It’s aged 6 to 8 years, right in line with Old Fitzgerald’s core whiskey, and released in batches three times a year. Check the label code, which begins with A, B, or C, to determine when it was bottled—the first number corresponds to the month, the second two to the year. LBP has many of Old Fitzgerald’s familiar flavors, but overall is weightier, more viscous, and more muscular, the kind of whiskey that’s both an arm wrestle and a bear hug.