cascode
Buffalo Trace Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
December 21, 2019 (edited December 26, 2019)
Nose: Acetone, corn syrup, maple syrup, cinnamon, powdered ginger, rye spice. A little raw ethanol peeks through.
Palate: Spicy-sweet arrival but it's somewhat hot and edgy. Cinnamon and ginger again, light caramel, corn syrup and nutmeg on the development with a dash of licorice. The texture is rather thin and watery.
Finish: Short. Popcorn and dusty tobacco - dry and faintly tannic on the aftertaste.
I get the distinct impression that Buffalo Trace is much beloved by many folks as a dependable and consistent daily dram. Personally I was not so much impressed, finding it pretty average right through and inferior to some other bottom/mid shelf bourbons in the same price range (or cheaper).
However please bear in mind that in Australia this whisky is released at only 40% abv. It is common for low and mid shelf bourbon that would normally be 43-46% to be sold here at only 40%. While in some cases this may make only a small difference, in this instance I think there could be a greater loss of character.
This is because the overwhelming and instant impression I had when I first tasted this 40% version of Buffalo Trace was of a pour of whiskey that had been ruined by having too much water added. It has that thin and hollow character that an over-watered dram always gets. Adding any more water makes it pathetically weak and it virtually disappears in a bourbon & coke.
I can only rate this Australian release as average at best and I would be very unlikely to buy another bottle, particularly considering the relatively expensive price (equivalent to about US$40). On the other hand I might rate the proper 45% abv bottling more highly.
"Average" : 75/100 (2.5 stars)
63.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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I try and tell lots of smaller liquor store owners when I can (and know they'll see me enough to care) that grandad, etc. are the things to put on the shelf to actually move but sadly in this aisle of the spirit store in 'murrica many lean one-mensional: grandma and her makers, rednecks and the oily nasty known as old. no.7, budget cocktail devotees and their bulleit, et al. back home down south we see regular BT expression as brown you might sip with ice but near an evan black price-point, and minus the ridicule your bros would deservedly give you if you iced evan black.
@cascode Man that's a bummer. Good to know though
@Whiskey_Hound Yep. The only reason we get anything at all from overseas is that liquor distributors and specialist shops can claim a rebate on the excise duty.
@cascode Really?? That's insane!! I had no idea. The VFM on that bottle of BT would plummet to unfathomable depths at that point!
@Whiskey_Hound Thanks mate but it's prohibitive to send full bottles to Australia. I'd have to pay something like $120 in excise tax to get it through customs. The duty we have to pay on alcohol is ridiculous. By the way that's precisely why Australian whisky is so expensive. It costs local distillers about $60 a bottle in taxes to make the stuff, which they have to recoup before anything else is considered.
@cascode As many others below me have pointed out, this one is enjoyable at 45%. Nothing crazy, but very reliable. I'd be happy to send a properly-proofed bottle down your way, because 40% does no justice to what I consider a staple and a classic
I'm a fan of the standard buffalo trace, but it's always come off a bit thin and watery so on the one hand a 40% bottling migth just be horrible, but I wouldn't expect a rich experience on a 45%. It's very solid, mostly consistent, and when you're in the right mind it's a good bourbon. Nothing more though.
@cascode yes, it would be tough to justify paying the premium for average everyday stuff, even knowing that availability in your market is so different.
@bigwhitemike Interesting, so higher abv may not provide a significantly improved version. Good to know as I wasn’t keen on buying a TRE bottle just for science.
@cascode. I have two tastings of the 45% logged - my fist was head to head blind with 3 other similar price and proof and was not favorable to BT.. watery and thin, too tannic. The second was a recent revisit solo tasting and I enjoyed it much more... just middle of the road, classic bourbon notes but still lacking mouthfeel with a few disjointed flavors, as is appropriate for a $25 bottle. Good VFM at that price point and I get it’s mass appeal, however the huge demand is predominantly not a product of its own merits.
The 45% version is nothing to go crazy over, but I would label it a daily sipper. It’s been a few years since I really sat down with it but the last bottle I had was enjoyable
@PBMichiganWolverine Yep, and that's for the emasculated 40% version. You can buy the 45% proper bottling from one liquor shop who imports grey-market and TRE bottlings - they're sold out at the moment but the last time they had it in stock it was $90 for a 1 litre bottle.
Wow—$63 is expensive for this, even given the AUS / US exchange rate. That’s about Us$43. Here it’s $25-30