Buffalo Trace Single Barrel Select Bourbon

To start off my Buffalo Trace series, I have a single barrel pick from the Drammers club. The nose starts with powdered sugar over sautéed cinnamon apples and butterscotch candy followed by milk chocolate covered pecans then light fruit notes of cherry and orange peel that transitions to spearmint and very light baking spices with low ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with sour apple before a mild bitter pepper spice that slowly fades to cocoa nibs followed by light fruits of maraschino cherries and orange zest that transitions to spearmint and light baking spices with low ethanol burn. The finish is short with cocoa nibs, sautéed cinnamon apples, orange push pop, spearmint and light baking spices. Overall, this is an easy sipper but it’s quite dull. Picking out the notes outside of apple and cinnamon is difficult as they are very light which results in this tasting like a watered-down whiskey that is inoffensive but also lackluster. At the price of $50, this seems priced too high and I'd much rather just pick up a WT 101 as I find it a better whiskey, but my palate tends to find Buffalo Trace products underwhelming outside of their Blanton's Gold and Stagg Jr.

Selected By: One Stop Package Warehouse: N Barrel: #417 When our intrepid hero stopped bleeding, he typed this review. Nose is green apple. Must. Oak. Body is apple, sugar. Bit of chocolate. Finish is cinnamon, vanilla, char. Loads of sugar on the finish. This doesn’t taste all that different from mainline BT, but that’s not a bad thing. I really like mainline BT. I haven’t had them back to back, but from my memory this is a bit hotter and more dynamic than standard. Yet, the dominant flavors are so BT core that the differences kind of blend in to normal day to day palate variation. It takes a lot for me to end up writing a positive review about a bottle that cuts my finger open badly, but a good BT fits the bill. Update: it took 9 days for the cut to heal fully. Worth. It.

Blind test Buffalo Trace Barrel Select Nose: fruity, caramel, Taste: sweet, fruity, caramel. Flavors aren’t strong but they are pleasant. Tastes low proof. If whatever this is was higher proof it could be great. Finish: the caramel/fruitiness is still there, plus some cinnamon. Overall: very pleasant and easy to sip. The caramel/fruity not lingers throughout. Very little complexity or evolution as the drink continues, which is likely due to a lower proof point. Whatever this is, if it was higher proof I might love it. Score: 3.5/5

Selected by: Station House Liquor Nose is brine, malty. Body is apple, flowers, vanilla, Finish is perfume, sugar. To me, this is a huge departure, and not necessarily in good ways. I really like mainline BT. In this pick, the apple and vanilla flavors are pure and clean. I love them here. But the perfume/floral notes are powerful. There’s a weird brininess that feels off, and although there’s some maltiness on the nose, that’s where that ends. Interesting whiskey, good whiskey, but give me OG BT anytime over this.

Pappy’s of Oceanside store pick. The clerk recommended this bottle, saying he was on his third bottle already. Now I believe him. This is pretty good. Almost as good as the last Blanton’s bottle I opened. Nose: Cherry cough syrup, ethanol, light baking spices, hint of orange marmalade. Palate: Silky, coating, rounded, cherry, baking spices, a little bitterness hiding in the shadows. Finish: Longish, some latent heat, cherry and orange notes. Not complex, but delicious.

*** MBS *** Nose - Some cinnamon some baking spice. Theres some burnt smokiness in here like a fresh burnt oak. Theres some vanilla sweetness but its not the highlight of the nose. Some bt cherry if course. Palate - Its thin but really nice and more complex than a regular BT. Some baking spice, cherry, and leather. Simple combination but works well to be complex on the spice Finish - Some cherry and cinnamon. Hotter on the way down but not overbearing.