Stagg Jr Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch 12

Absolutely wonderful. Aroma is caramel and dark fruit. Perhaps fig or date. Flavor was sense, the right sweetness and opens quite nicely. Caramel and cocoa later turning to dark chocolate resonated with me. Same dark fruit notes from the Aroma appear in the flavor with again with dates. A drop of water opened this up nicely and had some additional spice notes and complexity come forward. This was really nice.

Apparently this is Batch 12. As far as I can tell, Buffalo Trace did nothing to indicate the Batch No. Luckily, distiller lists the ABV, so I was able to match them up myself. This is the little brother of the highly-touted George T. Stagg. Should be interesting. Nose: Classic BT. Camarel, cola, cherry, Gala apple, leather, toffee, and vanilla. Some peach and honey sweetness as well. Even some carrot cake as well, which, though I've been finding this a bit more often, is still a rare note. Just a touch of brown sugar. I said cola earlier. I'm going to specify that as root beer here. There's some steak sauce and wood char. Extremely heavy on the oak. There is plenty of allspice, clove, and nutmeg behind the sweetness, but not a hint of ABV--impressive since this clocks in at 66.15%. Strong start. Palate: Loads of caramel. By far the prevailing note. Also quite a bit of brown sugar. Milk chocolate as well, which is unique for a bourbon. There's some cocoa and leather. Plenty of oak. As brown a bourbon as I've ever had, if that makes any sense. Beyond that, there's some more Gala apple, carrot cake, vanilla. A touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and clove on the back end. Doesn't add much to what I got from the nose, but the quality is consistent. Finish: Until this point, this was very good, but not quite great. Chocolate, graham cracker, caramel, and vanilla. Tons of oak. Drying black tea note. Cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg. Blistering heat on the first sip. As time passes, it becomes tempered, and very refined. Interestingly, the chocolate is initially a mint chocolate; yet, it transforms to milk chocolate when given time to breathe. It's among the longest finishes I've had. It's rare that a finish could add so much to whiskey, but in the case of high ABV whiskies like this, it is always worth factoring into the score. Phenomenal. When I purchased this, it boasted the highest ABV of any whiskey I'd ever had. Since then, it's dropped to number 2. At any rate, that's a lofty accomplishment. What impresses me about this one is that it retains the core attributes of the Buffalo Trace profile while living up to its status as an overpowering behemoth. I choose the Col. Taylor SB over this. The Weller 12 as well. Two of the finest whiskies I've ever had. This one is on par with Elmer T. Lee--for completely different reasons. The latter is a refined and eloquent expression of the BT profile. This one is a bold, brash, and bombastic embodiment of Buffalo Trace's potential. I've enjoyed this one very much. It's a monster of a whiskey, but offers enough complexity where the ridiculous ABV cannot detract from the quality. BT does a poor job of distinguishing these expressions with their labeling. But they do a stellar job with everything else. Compare the ABV with the information online. If you can match it up, I highly recommend this beast. Superb stuff.

One of my fav ! Love this and the flavor ! The heat is nice !