Wheatley

Wheatley at a Glance

Wheatley has 3 distinct products with 19 total TTB label approvals, including Vodka 100 Proof Up, Vodka 80-89 Proof. Labels approved between 2022-12-09 and 2026-09-17. Label origins on file: California, Kentucky.

At a Glance data sourced from public TTB records.

Wheatley Vodka: Ten Distillations at a Kentucky Bourbon Distillery

Buffalo Trace Distillery launched a new product named after master distiller Harlen Wheatley, and it was a vodka rather than a bourbon, Fred Minnick wrote on April 1, 2014. At that point it was only available in the Buffalo Trace gift shop.

Harlen Wheatley's path to a namesake vodka

Harlen Wheatley was hired in 1995, at 24 and fresh from a chemical engineering degree at the University of Kentucky, as a supervisor at the Stagg Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, VinePair wrote in 2021. The first vodka he helped make there was Rain, from white corn, and the distillery had also made Platinum 7X by 1996, the article said. He took over as master distiller by 2005, and a custom-designed combination pot and column micro still was running in 2007.

His name went on the bottle because Steve Wyant, then vice president of sales and marketing at Sazerac, recommended it, VinePair reported. Wheatley's one stipulation, he told VinePair, was "we're not going to make bubblegum vodka and put my name on it."

Ten distillations, and once 159

Corn and wheat were each distilled seven times separately, married, and distilled three more times, coming off the still at 191 proof and triple filtered but not chill filtered, Fred Minnick wrote in 2014. Buffalo Trace's brand page describes red winter wheat and locally sourced limestone-filtered water, the same ingredients as its bourbons. The mash bill mainly combines corn and the soft red winter wheat used in the Van Winkle and Weller line, VinePair wrote. The brand website says Wheatley intentionally bottles the vodka at 82 proof.

Before the namesake vodka, Wheatley's team turned 28,400 gallons of mash into 332 gallons of vodka over 159 distillations, VinePair recounted. The result, sold as Wheatley CLIX, was priced at $300 when 2,000 bottles first hit shelves in 2011.

From gift shop to all 50 states

After three months distributors were imploring the distillery to push it wide, VinePair said. By 2021 it was sold in all 50 states and a few countries abroad, and Buffalo Trace had installed a dedicated vodka still five years earlier, the article added. Buffalo Trace's own craftsmen page says the brand was released to the public due to popular demand.

Sponsorships: WWE and NASCAR

Wheatley American Vodka is the Official Vodka of WWE, the brand website says. It is also the Official Vodka of NASCAR, with the Wheatley Vodka Clash set for the Daytona oval on February 13, 2027.

Wheatley's bottling statement and label origins on file

The brand website footer says Wheatley Vodka is produced and bottled by Sazerac Co., Louisville, KY. In the BUY.VODKA TTB snapshot, most approvals were filed by Buffalo Trace Distillery, Inc. of Frankfort, Kentucky with Kentucky as the label origin on file. A filing dated 10 July 2023 by Sazerac Distillers, LLC dba Barton Brands of California, of Carson, lists California as the label origin on file. Explore the TTB label data for Wheatley on this page.

Sources

• Fred Minnick. “Buffalo Trace Names New Small Batch Product After Its Master Distiller, Harlen Wheatley.” 1 April 2014. https://www.fredminnick.com/2014/04/01/buffalo-trace-names-new-small-batch-product-master-distiller-harlen-wheatley/
• Wheatley Vodka (wheatleyvodka.com). “Wheatley Vodka | American-Made & 10x Distilled.” Undated. https://www.wheatleyvodka.com/
• Buffalo Trace Distillery (buffalotracedistillery.com). “Wheatley Vodka | Buffalo Trace Distillery.” Undated. https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/our-brands/wheatley-vodka.html
• VinePair. “The Curious Case of Pappy's Master Distiller's 'Wheatley Vodka' Brand.” 10 June 2021. https://vinepair.com/articles/pappy-distiller-wheatley-vodka/
• Buffalo Trace Distillery (buffalotracedistillery.com). “Wheatley (craftsmen page).” Undated. https://buffalotracedistillery.com/craftsmen/wheatley
• TTB Public COLA Registry via BUY.VODKA data snapshot (src/data/labels.json, local build 16 October 2026). “Wheatley” label approvals. Local read-only query, 16 October 2026.

Produced at Multiple Facilities

• Buffalo Trace Distillery, Buffalo Trace Distillery, INC.
• Barton Brands Of California, INC.

Related Brands

• Burnett's also from Kentucky
• Svedka also from Kentucky
• Faber also from Kentucky
• Three Olives also from Kentucky
• Deep Eddy also from Kentucky
• Muscle also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Veil also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Stoli also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Heritage Distilling CO also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Holla also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof

Related Questions

• Where is Wheatley vodka made?
• Who makes Wheatley vodka and who owns the brand?
• What proof is Wheatley vodka?

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