First Barrel Selection for 2025 is In the Books

Just over a month ago, I received a phone call with some incredible news from the bourbon front lines; my friend G.C. was one of the few lucky people to have their number pulled in the recent Buffalo Trace Lottery (Sazerac Barrel Select). To my knowledge, the only way to get a private barrel from Buffalo Trace is through this program, charity, or years as a retail store owner selling Sazerac products by the thousands. There is no question that this barrel will only be replicated again in our group with sheer luck. To receive the invite that G.C. extended to me was like opening that acceptance letter to USC. I was over the moon excited for not only myself and those going, but to be able to bring back such an incredible barrel to our group. Buffalo Trace has so much history to learn about, and we showed up with our sleeves rolled up and ready to learn about E.H. Taylor and Albert Blanton’s old stomping grounds. Those names should ring a bell or 10.

You have two options when you get selected on where you want to taste your barrels at BT: one is a newer more refined experience in their updated facility and the other is in warehouse H. Do you happen to own a bottle of Blanton’s? Check the label and see what warehouse that was aged in on Buffalo Trace’s campus. If it doesn’t say warehouse H then it is either a unicorn or a misprint. So, we were compelled to taste our barrel in warehouse H and I’m glad that we did. It was old, rugged, and smelled of aging whiskey…kinda like me. We tasted in a small room, but it was the perfect setting for what we were there to do, and that was to pick the very best of what they offered us.

Before the selection process, they take you on a tour of the Buffalo Trace grounds. We didn’t realize that the tour we were on was to be a behind the scenes tour…a tour you can’t purchase is what I’m saying, and it was a treat for everyone. G.C. and I are history/whiskey nerds and Cameron leads the whiskey nerd community; us three were like kids at Christmastime. The weather was rainy and overcast most of the day, but we managed to stay dry until the final 30 minutes. One of the first stops we made on our tour is a new excavation/dig they are completing that they have appropriately named Pompeii. It truly looked like ruins as you walked above on the iron walkways taking in the sites from yesteryear. We were literally in the original boiler room where E.H. Taylor made his famous O.F.C. bourbon (Old Fashioned Copper). O.F.C. is one of the most expensive bottles, at retail or on secondary, that Buffalo Trace produces. Being in the original boiler room while standing next to one of the oldest barrels I’ve ever seen (1860’s) while scanning the room to understand the type of mind it took to engineer such a feat was genuinely awe inspiring. In the center of “Pompeii” is one brand new copper boiler large enough to produce 12 barrels of whiskey in the exact same place as the original from the 1800’s. They have already produced at least one batch so far, and we know that because we saw O.F.C. experimental barrels on our tour alluding to Pompeii. It had us putting 2 and 2 together; Buffalo Trace is at some point in the next decade likely to have an O.F.C. release that comes from the original boiler room of E.H. Taylor. It’s houses a new copper fermenter (5,600 gallon capacity) in the original location on the property. Expect that to fetch more money than most make in 2-3 months’ time.

If you’ve been on a distillery tour before, then you know that most of them are the same with few exceptions. You go to a place like Maker’s Mark or Buffalo Trace vs a craft distillery like High Wire or Broad Branch and you’ll see some major differences. For instance, the corn trucks that come through Buffalo Trace average about 22 trucks per day. I’d venture to guess places like High Wire may not get that many in a few months, but that’s just a guess. The historical significance of E.H. Taylor and his kinship to President Zachary Taylor, as well as Albert Blanton’s genius mind to save the distillery from bankruptcy was eye opening. Without that kinship to President Taylor, does Buffalo Trace get one of the few medicinal licenses to continue whiskey production through Prohibition? Historical footnotes and Buffalo Trace being the longest uninterrupted American distillery are good reasons why you should go on as many tours as you can. We learned so much regardless if some things can seem repetitive after you get a few tours under your belt. Comparing the selection of this barrel to our pick last year in Loretto at Maker’s Mark, the Maker’s Mark pick experience was far and away better than Buffalo Trace. I wrote about that trip in another article last year, but if our experience was a 8/10 at Buffalo Trace, then Maker’s gets a 10/10.

When we got to the picking room in Warehouse H after our tour, there were 4 barrels to choose from. 3 of them were very similar and one was the outlier. The outlier sometimes stands out as the favorite, but this time it was the easy boot. Barrel C was amazing on the nose but fell flat on the palate. The intense upfront flavors combined with the excellent nose just disappeared like butter on hot bread during the finish. So we all gave Barrel C the other boot and narrowed it down to A and B. Barrel B was the one we originally decided on, but then we were allowed to do something I wasn’t expecting. We were able to thieve from the barrel at barrel proof! I’ve always wanted Buffalo Trace at Barrel Proof, something few get to try, and now I’m able to confirm what I already suspected; they don’t need to proof it down so much. It was excellent! Barrel B was the favorite on the palate for most of us but barrel A was everyone’s favorite nose. After the cask strength tasting, we changed our mind from Barrel B to Barrel A at the last second, and it was unanimously chosen that way. They were so close that we couldn’t have picked wrong, but it was clear they were better than the other 2. There is no question that if you have ever tasted Buffalo Trace, this barrel coming back to the Gamecock Bourbon Society will be better or on par with the best bottle of BT that you’ve ever had.

I know that G.C. is going to write a guest article about this trip, so I don’t want to continue and take away from that, but rather leave some of the fun surprises of the trip to his creative writing. I can’t wait to read it personally as I thing he has great prose. I mainly wanted y’all to hear about two first hand experiences of an incredible day at a historical venue. Cheers!

Questions answered about the Barrel release:

I’m working on the back end now with Clyde’s Spirits on how the process will be handled of picking up your bottle and how much they will be. She normally sells her Buffalo Trace for $39.99, but I have worked a deal with them to sell at $34.99. In order to reserve a bottle, it will be a $10 donation to the Garnet Trust paid through my website. This is the best way to eliminate people who will buy the bottle and sell it on the secondary market, and it will also discourage fans of other schools who don’t want our athletic teams to succeed. This is a great opportunity for The Gamecock Bourbon Society to give back, and after beating Clemson’s ass in everything the last 3 weeks, those athletes deserve a solid check just because. I’ll send/post a picture of the check so that everyone knows where the money went. The ONLY thing that may happen, and I’m going to speak with the Garnet Trust about this, is if the money coming in can be used to purchase a couple of yearly subscriptions to the Garnet Trust for a some of our members. I’m not sure how that will be received, but its one extra way that I can give back to our bourbon community as well. Either way, the money goes to the Garnet Trust.

Lastly…you know how I like to name a bottle. We’ve had local names like “Laurel & Main”. We’ve had basketball names like “Garnet Dawn”. We’ve had legendary Gamecock names like “Black Magic”. I feel like it’s time to name a bottle after a player. I won’t reveal the idea for the sticker that will go on the back just yet, but I will reveal that it will have almost everything to do with LaNorris Sellers and his performance against Clemson. I was critical of his early performances in terms of how he took care of the football, but have maintained that he is a freshman and that we have to accept the learning “bad” games while it slows down for him. Well, it slowed down to the tune of him getting Heisman buzz towards the end of the season. This will be a bottle that every Gamecock fan will want to have, and it will sell out quickly. Make sure you stay tuned to your email for any updates.

**If you aren’t aware of how the Buffalo Trace barrel program works, go to SazeracBarrelSelect.com and sign up. I’ve written a recent article on the process. Just know it’s worth signing up for. It could be YOU writing a guest article about YOUR experience at BT next time.**

Bottle Share Announcement:

I have reserved “The Outing Club” in Aiken, SC for January 4th to host my first bottle share. This is essentially a great way to learn more about bourbon, share your favorite bourbon, and save some money by trying before buying. It’s also a good excuse to get out of the house and meet some of the people you interact with on social media. Just come to have fun, as that is my only expectation having never hosted one. Think of this as a planned informal get together.

Bring a bottle to share and if you want to grill anything, bring your meat of choice. I’ll have the Mississippi State-USC Basketball game on, cornhole, music, a fire pit, and glasses that you can use for nosing a good pour. If you aren’t on X (twitter) then you don’t yet know that I have 20+ bottles that I am bringing that used to be in Rarebird01’s private collection. If he owns a bottle of whiskey its either REALLY good, or really unique…or both. I look forward to sharing these with those that can make it. The game starts at 2, but I’ll be there around noon. Stay tuned to my website to reserve a spot (we have room for up to 50 inside) and to learn how to get there, etc. We should be wrapped up by 5-6 oclock as the sun is going down. Feel free to bring a fishing rod, as there is a 25+ acre pond to enjoy as well.

Forever to Whiskee!

Paul Miles