A $6,000 Weller Bourbon Was Spotted At Costco. What Makes It So Special?

Whoever is in charge of Costco's whiskey department is clearly a true fan of the craft as there are a number of rare bourbons that Costco carries. Most recently, Costco shoppers have spotted one of the newest products from the legendary distillery Buffalo Trace — the Weller Millennium. We put out a review of Weller Millennium when it was released back in May where we expressed some skepticism around the bottle, mostly due to its eye-watering manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $7,500.

If you're in the market for a bottle, Reddit users recently posted that it was available at Costco for a discount. Costco's price of $6,000 is a little more palatable, especially compared to the secondary market prices which range anywhere from $9,000 up to $18,000. But even at wholesale prices, this bottle is going to be out of the price range for almost all whiskey enthusiasts. Enough talk about price, though. It's clearly an expensive bottle. Do the contents justify the cost?

The whiskey is a blend of different bourbons and wheat whiskeys that Buffalo Trace has been sitting on for several years. The oldest is from the year 2000 while the youngest is from 2006, making this an 18-year-old whiskey — although the bottle doesn't advertise it in quite that way. More on that in a second. Although it contains bourbon, the addition of wheat whiskeys means that Weller Millennium is not a bourbon but a blended whiskey. Despite this, comparing the flavor profile to a wheated bourbon would not be entirely off the mark.

It isn't just the whiskey you're paying for here, though. The bottle itself is a handmade crystal decanter with a hand-etched crystal topper emblazoned with the Weller logo. The bottle also comes with an illuminated display case that has the years of each whiskey barrel listed alongside their percentage. So, the batch from 2000 constitutes 3% while 2003 constitutes 50%.

The fact that the whiskey is named "Millennium" combined with its lavish marketing and gimmicky proof point of 99 (symbolic of the turn of the millennium in 1999) gives the impression that Weller Millennium is a bottle that is meant to be seen and not sipped. There are some great top shelf bourbons out there that you can acquire for a fraction of the cost. As we talk about in our review of Weller Millennium, the flavor profile is simply not where it ought to be for this kind of MSRP.

So, while we love that Costco is carrying such a decadent product, the fact that Weller Millennium is there at all just a few months after its initial release is a red flag. When it debuted, the word on the street was that this would be an extremely rare bottle with a very limited release. Yet, here we are with bottles showing up on Costco shelves at wholesale prices. If anything, it feels like the Weller Millennium was a swing and a miss for a distillery increasingly looking to cash in on their fans' unquestioning devotion.