Uncut, unfiltered, straight from the barrel E.H. Taylor. At 128.1 proof, this is definitely heavyweight bourbon. However, compared to Stagg Jr., this Buffalo Trace expression is less oakey and really tends toward dark cane syrup or molasses. This one is really growing on me and my wife Catherine really likes it as well.

Honey rather than mahogany in color. Baking spice on the nose, but in such a way that makes me think of a Southern Classic Fried Chicken restaurant’s fried apple pies that are exactly like McDonald’s apple pies from the 1970’s. That’s just the nose on this whiskey. The best way I can describe the taste is an apple pie with a sweet cornbread crust that has been baked within moments of being burnt but taken out of the oven at just the perfect time with a lovely back strap rum sauce poured all over it.  The finish is creamy and a mouth watering delight. While I personally like a little more oak in cask strength whiskies I buy, this has so much amazing complexity that I wouldn’t change a thing. Harlen Wheatley outdid himself on this one. Then again, Harlen, as unassuming as he is, is to whiskey what Willy Wonka is to candy.  When the below picture was taken, Harlen and I were talking about whiskey and happiness. Maybe he is Willy Wonka for grown ups. 

One of the really great things about Buffalo Trace distillery is how they treat Harlen. Being a business guy while drinking whiskey outside the experimental warehouse with Harlen, I asked him how he was able to convince management (aka Mark Brown and the Sazerac board) to let him do all these crazy mash bill and barrel experiments, including the temperature experiments at Warehouse x.

His response to my question was “they will let me do whatever I want as long as it has a purpose.”

Well, that’s a way to unleash pure creative genius that will ultimately make you a ton of money and make you the most award winning distillery on the planet.