Review #674 - Old Fitzgerald 7 Year Bottled-in-Bond
Heaven Hill's Old Fitzgerald brand is a series of bourbons that has historically been very hard to find. These are limited edition seasonal releases that follow the bottled-in-bond schedule of Spring and Autumn bottlings; there's also a VVS (Very Very Special) version that is released annually at the distillery. In 2025, Heaven Hill set out to bottle a more affordable, attainable version of this brand - they released a 7 year old bottled-in-bond bourbon with a suggested price around $60.
Because of the hype around the Old Fitzgerald brand in general, the first waves of this release sold out immediately, and a secondary market was created for the bourbon. The increased supply is starting to show, though, with more bottles slowly being available on the shelves of liquor stores; accordingly, the price asked for these bottles is returning to the initial expected levels.
While this 7 year version of Old Fitz doesn't come in quite the same fancy decanter bottle as the season releases, it does still have a nice presentation with a taller, more slender version of the scalloped glass decanter. The glass stopper has been replaced with a wood-topped cork, and there's a relatively clean green label on the bottle.
This version of Old Fitz still uses Heaven Hill's wheated bourbon mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley (the same as their Larceny branded bourbons, too). Because it carries the bottled-in-bond designation, it's bottled at a strength of 50% ABV (100 proof).
Old Fitzgerald 7 Year Bottled-in-Bond
USA - Bourbon
MSRP: USD 60 (2025)
Available Price: USD 80 (2025, based on recent auction results)
Age Statement: 7 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 30% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Soft and sweet, but oak brings a leather note, almost like old leather-bound books. Vanilla and freshly-milled grains combine with a nice dusty note. Relatively simple.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness; it's quite sweet and bright, with vanilla, floral perfume, and cotton candy. Fruits of orange and dark cherry build in strength, and we get a hint of leather again from the oak. At the end, there's a bit of demerara sugar.
Finish: Graham crackers, cinnamon, and white pepper lead a baking note-focused finish. Soft new leather and oak build in strength, and at the end, there's an almost syrupy sweet texture; it's a medium length finish.
Final Note: For us, this bottle is like the definition of a '7' on our scale - it's just a really good, solid bourbon. Not overly complex, but a nice variety of sweet flavors and wood notes; the finish especially showed more of that oaky side. Texture is decent, but not exceptional, and the length of the finish is probably just more than average. Our favorite part was probably the fruity cherry notes in the palate.
If you can find this bottle at the MSRP around $60, it's great value. Secondary prices look to be hovering just slightly higher, around $80 or so at the time of writing; even at that slightly inflated price, this could still be worth picking up.
Our Average Rating: 7.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating (MSRP): 7.15
Value Rating (Available Price): 6.50
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other wheated bourbon reviews from Heaven Hill:
Review #627 - Old Fitzgerald Decanter Series 9 Year Bourbon (2025)
Review #522 - Larceny Barrel Proof Batch A125
