Blanton’s Single Barrel

• DISTILLERY – Buffalo Trace
• REGION – Frankfort, Kentucky
• AGE – NAS (~6-8 years)
• STRENGTH – 46.5% (93 Proof)
• MASH BILL – Buffalo Trace’s Proprietary Mash Bill #2 (Higher Rye content at 12-15%)
• MSRP – $60

GLANCE

Has a deep rich copper color with medium viscosity

NOSE

On the nose I get oakiness with delicious peanut butter. There are earthy tones, a light bouquet note, caramel popcorn, cracker jack, roasted honey granola. Then an aroma that only way I can best describe is when you make some fresh oatmeal and sprinkle it with cinnamon and honey.

TASTE

Here I can taste the baking spices, vanilla, oak, butter popcorn which turns into caramel. I get floral earthy tones with baking spices throughout. Towards the end I got peanut butter drizzled with honey. During some sips, I also got cinnamon baked bread with raisins in it.

FINISH

There is a long developing Kentucky hug with lots of caramel, baking spices and peanut brittle.

CLOSING REMARKS

When Blanton’s single barrel first came on the scene, bourbon wasn’t moving like it is today. When in 1984 it was released, it came at around $30. This back then was quite costly for bourbon, which had fallen out of favor in the larger American public. Decades later you will be lucky to even see it on the shelf, forget about seeing it for the MSRP $60 (usually marked more than 50% of the MSRP). The product line Blanton’s was the first single barrel product, which was quite an innovative introduction in to the world of spirits. In many ways it brought back Buffalo Trace distillery and put bourbon on the map. Blanton developed by the infamous late master distiller Elmer T. Lee, is stored in warehouse H, which is the only metal clad warehouse at Buffalo Trace. This conducts heat and really amplifies the fluctuations of Kentucky’s weather allowing the barrels to breathe even more – leading to more bourbon interacting heavily with the barrel. If you have never had it, go ahead pay $20 more than MSRP but its not worth $150 or $200 (real sticker prices I have seen). Being a single barrel product you can very likely get a dud or one that hits it out of the park. I got somewhere in the middle of the road. Diverse flavors and aromas but I had to really tease them out. This isn’t a bourbon I can just seat and drink to relax, its an exercise in tasting – which is also fun!