Buffalo Trace Col E. H. Taylor Barrel Proof

Spot on review, it's everything I experienced. I love this bourbon. I rarely add water to anything, I like this one neat.

@newreverie, lovely enthusiastic review. Thank you.

Yes, very good things happen north of 60% abv. You and @Benancio make me very excited at the anticipation of one day opening my bottle of this particular Col E.H.Taylor.

What is great about sipping on this bourbon at proof is that the burn happens on the tip and middle of your tongue and not in your throat. It is more like cinnamon redhots than alcohol harshness. @Victor, I am surprised you haven't opened yours. I did this review partly because you hadn't and I was curious about your thoughts. This bourbon is really special and I have no doubt once you try it you will consider it among the best.

@newreverie, I try not to open new bottles these days because I still have 100 open bottles of whisk(e)y in the house and I hate to see any whisk(e)y go bad.

I expect that I will review my own bottle of Col E H Taylor Barrel Proof 64.5% abv after I do open it. I have liked all of the Col E H Taylor whiskeys which I have tasted to date, including the Sour Mash, Single Barrel, Tornado Surviving Warehouse C, Small Batch, and the Rye. I am not gaga over the Rye in the way that Jim Murray is--he rated it 97 pts. Murray likes a very rounded style of rye whiskey more than I do.

With respect to comparisons to George T. Stagg,...well, these are bourbons from the same distillery, and, according to reports, the same mashbill. Most estimates for the 64.5% abv Barrel Proof 2014 release are that it is 7 years old to 9 years, compared to Stagg's 15 years or more.

I am not sure what the Sazerac Company and the Buffalo Trace Distillery are doing with the Col E H Taylor brand. It acts as a sort of vehicle for miscellaneous special issues for them, as best as I can tell, even though the Small Batch, Rye, and now, Barrel Proof, do have repeated releases. Special Issues do tend to be...special.

@Victor It has been a year since I wrote this review. My bottle is down to its last 2 pours. Have you still not tried this amazing bourbon?

@newreverie, no, I still haven't tasted the 64.5% ABV release of Col. E H Taylor Barrel Proof.

@Victor FYI the new Ailsa Bay official release is out in a day or two.It's supposed to be sweet and phenolic. Don't get too excited though, it's NAS and £51!

@Victor I'm having a pour of the 63.6% release and it is amazing. Very reminiscent of GTS. Perfect nose with dark raisins and barrel notes. Easily sipped without water. Deep complex flavor and very different from the 64.5 batch. The finish is a bit short, but it warms without a burn. I now have 4 releases bunkered unoppened. I hope you get around to trying this amazing bourbon some day soon.

@newreverie, it is only the enormous number of bottles I have open which keeps me from tasting a lot of desirable unopened bottles, very much including my bottle of Col E H Taylor Barrel Proof 64.5% release. I have been nursing a bottle of the Col E H Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Bourbon for several years now. And I always like to enjoy a sip of the Col EHT truly unusual Sour Mash, when I visit my sister.

How did you fare with Hurricane Harvey?

@Victor isn't it the truth? So many bottles waiting to be tasted and so many open bottles...

@Victor I opened my last bottle of b3 last night. Still incredible and everything I remembered it to be.

@newreverie that's very good to hear! My bottle of that whiskey remains unopened, what is it, 7 years later?

At the time I bought it I was a little worried that it was at only 64.5% ABV.