Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

Ok, so it's not malt whisky but this entire collection is stunning, worthy and an excellent bargain for premium spirits, especially compared to recent costs of single malt scotch whisky recently.  I started collecting these beauties as the price of single malts rocketed though the ceiling starting in about 2004.  I especially like the Sazarac Ryes (the new Thomas H Handy cask strength rye (8 yo) is stunning).  Well done!

Rye Whiskey - the American spirit for single malt whisky fanatics!

Here are the distillery release sheets for the bottlings I've located so far that Buffalo Trace puts in the 3-packs they distribute these bottles in or that I've "harvested" off the internet for the earlier bottlings.  I'll try to scan them at a lower resolution when I have time since some of the attached files, although nicely readable, are about 2 MB each. 

I was actually surprised to discover that I couldn't find copies of these online when I started FOAFing these beauties so I guess this is my little bourbon public service effort.  If anyone has corrections to this listing or better yet, copies of the missing data sheets, please email them to BTAC (at) smwhisky.com and I'll post them here to complete this esoteric collection of publicly accessible whisk(e)y porn.

2008 BTAC Releases

This year's release made it to New England the week of Nov 16 (a bit earlier than usual) and I just completed FOAFing this year's stockpiles over the past two days.  Only tasted the Eagle Rare and the William Larue Weller so far and really like them both.  We'll spend some serious time with the entire lineup this weekend and plan to do verticals against previous year's bottlings in the near future, and will post our thoughts on how this year's release compares against the earlier releases here over the next few weeks.

Until then, here are John Hansell's tasting notes that I harvested from a series of postings on his Blog - What does John know?  So far I agree with you John and really appreciate the information you share with the whisk(e)y fanatics of the world on your blog!

Note:  Scans below are 200 DPI, 600 DPI also provided

George T Stagg (141.8 proof) - 600 DPI
William Larue Weller (127.5 proof) - 600 DPI
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90 proof) - 600 DPI
Thomas H Handy Rye 8 yo (134.8 proof) - 600 DPI
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0  proof) - 600 DPI

BTAC Tasting Notes from Malt Advocate Magazine
Note: none published here yet for 2008 releases and I'll pull the tasting notes above once they're available online which I assume will be sometime after they're published in the Malt Advocate magazine.

George T Stagg
William Larue Weller
Eagle Rare
Thomas H Handy Rye
Sazarac Rye

2007 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (144.8 proof)
William Larue Weller (117.9 proof)
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90 proof)
Thomas H Handy Rye 8 yo (134.8 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0  proof)

2006 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (Fall 2006, 140.6 proof)
William Larue Weller (129.9 proof)
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90.0 proof)
Thomas H Handy Rye 8 yo (132.7 proof) 1st Release!
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0 proof)

2005 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (Spring, KY Only - 130.9 proof)
George T Stagg (Spring - 131.8 proof)
George T Stagg (Fall - 141.2 proof)
William Larue Weller (121.9 proof) 1st Release!
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90.0 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0 proof)

2004 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (129.0 proof)
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90.0 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0 proof)

2003 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (142.7 proof)
I can't find any info on the 2003 releases other than the proof of the GTS.
can anyone help out here?

2002 BTAC Releases

George T Stagg (137.6 proof)  1st Release!

W.L Weller 19 yo (90.0 proof)  last release
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90.0 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90.0 proof)

2001 BTAC Releases

W.L Weller 19 yo (90 proof)
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90 proof)

2000 BTAC Releases (I think this was the first year)

W.L Weller 19 yo (90 proof)
Eagle Rare 17 yo (90 proof)
Sazarac Rye 18 yo (90 proof)

Collector's Corner
Key to George T Stagg Releases

2002 - 137.6 Proof
2003 - 142.7 Proof
2004 - 129 Proof
2005 (Spring) - 130.9 Proof (KY only)
2005 (Spring) - 131.8 Proof
2005 (Fall) - 141.2 Proof
2006 - 140.6 Proof
2007 – 144.8 Proof
2008 - 141.8 Proof

last update on 01/25/2009