Blanton’s Single Barrel Straight Kentucky Bourbon

My Price: $59.95

Country/Area: United States/Kentucky

Distillery: Buffalo Trace

Proof/ABV: 93 proof/46.5% ABV

Mash Bill: Undisclosed Buffalo Trace Higher Rye Mash Bill #2

Barrel: New American Oak

Age: Undisclosed 6-8 years

Nose: Honey, Oak and Dough

Taste: Sweet Corn, Carmel and Wood

Review:

Buffalo Trace was one of the bottles that really got me into Bourbon. Naturally I began to explore some of their other offerings from the Buffalo Trace Distillery such as Eagle Rare and Weller. Blanton’s was on my list to pick up a bottle of but because I typically shop in Oregon which is state controlled and sells at or near MSRP it was almost impossible to come across a bottle of Blanton’s.

Then the 2020 pandemic hit and once liquor stores reopened, I was finally able to track some down as the bottles were not being sold to restaurants as soon as they came into a local liquor store. I was happy to pick up the bottle for the MSRP of $60. Then I tried the bottle. I was hoping to love it since it was nearly double the price of my now beloved Eagle Rare.

Don’t get me wrong. Blanton’s is good whiskey. However I feel like it’s a good $30-40 whiskey in a fancy bottle with a giant marketing machine behind it. Once I learned that although Blanton’s is distilled, aged, bottled and marketed by the Buffalo Trace Distillery, the actual Blanton’s company is owned by a Japanese company. To me that helps explain why it costs so much more at MSRP than most of the other offerings from Buffalo Trace. In my eyes this whiskey is worth trying if you come across a bar with a bottle of it and the pour is less than $15. Other wise try to mooch some off of your friend who has the 10-bottle stock pile of Blanton’s.

My Rating: Sip it! It is good whiskey but not at the $60 price point and that’s when you can even find the stuff.

May the miles you hike be filled with wonder and the glasses you raise be filled with whiskey.

Cheers!

Rating scale:

-Spit: Don’t bother with this one. If a friend gives you a dram of it, are they even your friend?

-Shoot: Good enough to get you drunk.

-Sip: Tasty enough to enjoy neat or on the rocks.

-Stock: I’d recommend keeping a bottle on hand.

Blanton’s in front of Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge