The Story

It’s actually quite hard for us to write about Buffalo Trace’s flagship bottle, because there’s so much to say, but you’ve probably already heard it.

It’s Buffalo Trace. A heavyweight distillery in the Bourbon world. Pretty much all of their products are in such high demand that they are allocated, meaning that they aren’t just distributed to retailers willy nilly; there’s actually metrics involved to determine which retailers get to stock it on their shelves. It’s a classic supply and demand story.

Thousands upon thousands of whiskey enthusiasts go to great lengths to get their hands on Buffalo Trace products, and they all pine for this sub-$30 bottle (among many other bottles in BT’s product lineup). In some states, they’ll wait in long lines for hours just to get their hands on one.

For the uninitiated, you’re probably asking ‘why would people do something like that?’ which would be a totally reasonable question. And really, the answer is simple: Bourbon enthusiasts LOVE this bottle; they don’t just like it. Hell, a good amount of people were drinking this value-priced bottle as their end-of-day pour (we call this a ‘daily drinker’). Suddenly the Bourbon boom of the mid 2010’s hit and these poor unfortunate souls would walk up to empty shelves when it was time to grab a new bottle. What a terrible situation to find oneself in.

Bottom line is, Buffalo Trace couldn’t keep up with demand. And we all know what happens when there’s not enough to go around…the game changes. Allocation occurs. Secondary markets pop up. It’s never a good thing. Buffalo Trace acknowledges this fact and states that they are investing in expansion projects to the tune of $1.2 billion. That’s quite an upgrade. Will it change our world of allocation? I don’t know, but my whole world of loving whiskey has been locked in the allocation game, so I remain skeptical.

If we want to go deeper into the rabbit hole of allocation, we’ll write more articles on it. For now, let’s move on to the bottle review.

Buffalo Trace Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a 90 proof expression that leverages Buffalo Trace’s mash bill #1. For the record, mash bill #1 ingredient amounts have never been publicly listed because Buffalo Trace wants to keep it a secret, but we did some research and listed the rumored amounts above. Again folks, this is rumored, and we have no way of knowing for sure because BT would certainly tell us to fly a kite if we asked them to confirm. So that’s our best guess!

Again, Buffalo Trace does not give out much info, and therefore they do not outwardly say anything about aging for the most part (with some exceptions, obviously). So we have to guess on the age, but it’s been rumored to be 6-8 years old. Thankfully we got a pretty definitive answer from a Buffalo Trace aging warehouse supervisor about the truth of it. We always try to get the best info for you guys, and dig up the truth as best we can! So for this one we feel confident in listing it.

Alright so let’s get into it for real! No more talk – let’s get to drinking now.

Nose

The nose gives off a rich sweetness – Apple, nutmeg and cinnamon. It’s like apple pie meets eggnog.

Palate

It’s a sweet-and-tart green apple flanked by cinnamon spice, caramel and a touch of vanilla.

Finish

The apple note makes a strong comeback with honey rounding out the final moments as some barrel funk absconds near the tail end.

Verdict

Let’s just say Buffalo Trace’s flagship bottle doesn’t need any help nor any introduction from us. Before it became an allocated bottle, it was already a back bar staple. Bartenders across the world had determined its value long before it was marked up considerably over retail. For everything that Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon offers, we’re glad to give it an 8.0 / 10.

Cheers friends!