Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Region: Bardstown, Kentucky
Aging: 6-8 Years
ABV: 62.4% ABV
Proof: 124.8 Proof
Bottled on: August 23, 2022
Barrel No: 1240
Warehouse: H
Rick No: 38
Bottle No: 23
Mash Bill: Undisclosed
Non-Chill Filtered: Yes
MSRP Price: $150
Secondary Price: $300
Appearance: Dark Honey
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel Tasting Notes
Nose: Heavily toasted oak, vanilla, rich caramel, light fruits, citrus zest, crisp apple, candied apricot, baking spice, cinnamon, brown sugar
Palate: Rich caramel, heavy oak, lots of rye spice, pepper, citrus, clove
Finish: Heavy and long finish that coats your entire mouth with heavy oak, caramel, and a ton of rye spice and pepper. You definitely get a nice “Kentucky hug” in your entire chest as the sip goes down.
Is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel an Approachable Whiskey?
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel is not for beginners.
This pour will blast your taste buds into hyperdrive the moment you take your first sip.
It’s big and bold with heavy oak, rich caramel, and hot rye spice and pepper right off the bat.
After the heat subsides, you get a bit of the citrus notes and light fruits you’d typically recognize from the standard Blanton’s Single Barrel.
Is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel Complex?
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel has quite a few layers of complexity to it.
It starts off with a huge blast of caramel and heavy oak that is quickly followed up with a massive amount of rye spice and pepper heat.
For many, this whiskey will be a bit much for their taste buds.
I’m a fan of cask strength whiskeys and I prefer a bit of a kick and a nice mouthfeel.
After the initial shock of bold flavors, this pour leaves you with a light fruit flavor on the tail end of the finish that reminds me of citrus zest and a bit of candied apricot and apple.
What are Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel’s strongest attributes/flavors?
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel’s strongest attribute is definitely it’s big, bold flavors right out of the gate.
It hits you with the standard oak, caramel, vanilla, and rye spice you would expect from a cask-strength medium-rye bourbon.
Is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel a go-to whiskey?
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel is a whiskey I would reserve for special occasions.
The bottle that we drank tonight was a special occasion celebrating a friend of ours who won this bottle in the Pennsylvania lottery and was gracious enough to open it and share a glass of it with me as well as a sample for me to take home and review.
Is Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel priced accurately to its quality?
Blanton’s Straight From The Bottle is a very coveted bottle since Blanton’s is hard to get in general.
The only way we are able to find a bottle of this in Pennsylvania is to win it in the lottery and even then it costs $150.
I’m a fan of Blanton’s in general and while I think the secondary market prices are pretty inflated, if you can find a bottle of this at MSRP price, I would certainly pick it up.
Conclusion for Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel
Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel is far more powerful and flavorful than your standard Blanton’s Single Barrel.
The proof point is far higher and for good reason.
When I get a whiskey that is straight from the barrel, these are the characteristics and flavors I would expect and can appreciate.
If you like big and bold whiskeys that will knock your socks off, Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel is a bottle you should give a try.
Side Note:
This particular bottle of Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel came from the Fine Wine and Good Spirits Pennsylvania whiskey lottery. It included the display box and the Blanton’s racehorse cork with the “N:” stamped on the label.
There are 8 total cork toppers that have the letters B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S if you collect them all.
It also comes with a leather bag that appears to be real leather embossed with gold embroidered Blanton’s.
They do a good job of making the bottles collectible and small details like this are some of the factors that make people go absolutely nuts collection Buffalo Trace products.
Let Us Know What You Think
I hope you enjoyed this tasting experience with me.
If you decide to give this bottle a shot, please let me know on social media via Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Thanks for reading and cheers!
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