pkingmartin
Buffalo Trace Single Oak Project Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
June 18, 2022 (edited July 16, 2022)
This was a sample from barrel #68 which was constructed from the wood of the bottom half of the tree that had 12 rings that then received a level 4 char before aging a high rye bourbon mash bill that entered the barrel at 125 proof and was stored in Rick K.
The nose starts with butterscotch hard candy, powdered sugar dusted over sautéed cinnamon apples and mild sawdust then candied pecans and blonde roast espresso followed by candied orange peel and cherry cough syrup that transitions to a moderate spearmint, cloves and slightly worn catchers mitt with light ethanol burn.
The taste is a thin mouthfeel starting with candy corn, powdered sugar, and sour caramel apple lollipop that quickly veers towards a moderate bitter spice that slowly fades to slightly burnt walnuts and cacao nibs followed by charred orange peel and watered down maraschino cherry juice that transitions to moderate spearmint, black pepper, cloves and slightly worn catchers mitt with medium ethanol burn.
The finish is short with cacao nibs, slightly burnt walnuts, black cherries, sour apple jolly rancher, black pepper and moderate spearmint.
The nose was promising with a creamy fruitiness with a mild sour astringency and moderate rye spices, but the palate failed to live up to the nose with a heavy oakiness and youthful astringency that doesn't come together well before finishing short with earthy and spicy rye flavors. I'm not sure why these were bottled at 45% ABV and not at cask strength to really showcase those flavors from the individual trees that sadly had to perish for this thin and average bourbon. I hear other barrel numbers turned out better, but I'm in no rush to find out.
The single oak bottles appear to have sold for around $50 at MSRP, but you'd unfortunately have to pay around $400 for one of these 375ml bottles today which is just outrageous and either price isn't justified IMHO for what you get.
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@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington Ha, that’s really funny that after all that they found out the standard BT and Weller green are what people want. @Skymecca Dang, sorry to hear you got a dud bottle like this one, but also happy to hear that I’m not alone in not being a fan of this release. @PBMichiganWolverine I think it has to do with telework jobs, the freedom to go anywhere and a generation that saw the housing bubble wipe people out financially. Plus home ownership is tough today with sky high prices on top of the headache of maintenance.
@pkingmartin funny!! I never understood this van life. Didn’t our parents and grandparents come here for the American dream ( home ownership, jobs, opportunities)? If we’re gonna be living in a van, why bother leaving their original country ?
I was gifted a bottle of this - I don't remember the barrel - and it was definitely not as good as a normal $25 bottle of Buffalo Trace.
@PBMichiganWolverine they posted the data from the project and it’s pretty fascinating. All objectively-subjective, ie. how much did people like each variant over time and when the people had spoken and variables accounted for - they basically like standard BT. Kind of like CYPB turning out to be green label Weller, go figure…
@PBMichiganWolverine Possibly or we could be entering a new generation of bottle hunters that embrace van life and just continue to cover the internet with bottle crotch shots from the front seat of their new homes.
@pkingmartin At 8.6% CPI, wondering if the likes of these will be the first to go?
@PBMichiganWolverine Yep, there were 96 total trees used to create 192 barrels that were then charred differently, filled with either a high rye or wheat mash bill and aged in different Rick houses. This seems like a BT Pokémon game of gotta collect them all.
@pkingmartin so, wait…this is so damn expensive because the barrel was from a single oak vs staves from x number of trees? Really?!!?