LouisianaLonghorn
Blanton's Original Single Barrel
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
January 26, 2021 (edited April 1, 2024)
After many years and hundreds of whiskies, I finally got around to trying Blanton’s. We get a pathetic allocation of BT products in Texas beyond the entry level Buffalo Trace and Weller products. I’ve seen EH Taylor twice since moving here. I’ve seen Eagle Rare a handful of times but for over double MSRP. I’ve seen Stagg Jr and Blanton’s exactly once. The Blanton’s was going for $130 and paired with a bottle of wine that I can only assume the store was trying to offload on some unassuming bourbon purist. My good neighbor picked this up and was kind enough to share a few pours with me tonight.
Maybe something’s wrong with me, but I find I really don’t care for the Buffalo Trace bourbon profile. I can’t recall being wowed by any of their expressions over the years, which leaves me scratching my head as to why they are so popular. Maybe it’s because they all have that “sweet oak” profile (which I certainly detect) and Americans have a notorious sweet tooth, or maybe it’s because Buffalo Trace has a crack marketing team. Either way, I feel there’s much better bourbon out there readily available on store shelves that you don’t have to fight one another in line to acquire.
Anyways. This is classic Buffalo Trace profile. Extra sweet caramel and pronounced vanilla, bit of maple, some barrel char. It is indeed a “smooth” sipper, but I like a some depth and fight in my bourbon. This is more a dog who rolls over on its back waiting for a belly rub and a “who’s a good boy?!”
If this were $40 (same as 4 Roses SiB, less than 1792 SiB or Russell’s Reserve...all objectively better bourbons) and NOT highly allocated, I might keep this around. For now, I’m happy with my readily available no -allocated products, despite my lack of horsey tops. Cheers.
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The Blantons bottle itself is 100% marketing but it's hard to blame them, it is EXCEPTIONAL marketing at that. While I think the bourbon itself is still quite tastey. I can spend 40smackers less and get a great bottle of Rare Breed. Even I can do that math.
Nice review and I totally agree with the sentiment here. It's a good bourbon, but seriously WTF? I don't understand the devotion to all things BT. .
@ghill40509 I too am keeping an eye on some of those Kentucky craft folks. I’m particularly interested in Wilderness Trail. We don’t get New Riff in Texas yet but they’re on my radar too.
Nice review. I see many comments that mirror my feelings. Blanton's is quite good and very enjoyable but as the price approaches twice MSRP there are other offerings of comparable enjoyment and/or better on the wallet. I am fortunate to have bunkered several at $55-60 but will likely not purchase again. I continue to watch closely the new larger craft players in central Kentucky and expect some of their products to be fabulous over the next few years.
While I would never overpay for this I probably like it more than I should...I ranted on the overratedness?? before
Agreed. I recall when I could buy this sub $50. Never would I have expected this to be in the $100 plus arena. Good, but there is better with less pain to the wallet.
“Smooth” is code for my father in law can drink it, and fits with almost any BT product. They are largely unflawed, sweet, fruity and woodsy enough start an evening but pour someone Stagg Jr and I fear what most would say. Meanwhile, Weller OWA 107, Weller full proof and little Stagg itself are complex and hot enough to please most aficionados but still not worth the trouble.
Maybe I've lucked into two good barrels, but I've been really impressed with Blanton's (at MSRP and not a penny over). I feel your allocation pain. It's so weird how it works. TX gets the Weller's & BT and NC gets the Eagle Rare (for a while anyway, haven't seen it recently). The only BT products we can consistently get are Ancient Age and Benchmark (oh and tons of Wheatley Vodka which I believe was the price paid to secure all that Eagle Rare).
Even as a self-proclaimed BT fanboy minoring in BT mashbill #2 fandom... I agree. Blanton’s SiB is overrated
Great notes! I tried this very early in my whiskey tasting journey and even then, when I was much more generous with my assessments, found this to be good, but nothing spectacular. I’ll need to revisit and see how it holds up now.