Is Stagg available year round?

[bulldawg]

Is George T. Stagg available year round, or is it just released once a year, and when it's gone it's gone until the following year? Or do they spread out their "model year" over the course of the calendar year? Every store I ask about it has no clue what I'm talking about -- even though they carry other Buffalo Trace Distillery products.

[musher]

Thus far, it has been made available once a year, in the fall. It was first offered in 2002, so there have been three offerings to date. They're now talking about an additional spring release this year, which will be a first.

[TNbourbon]

Is George T. Stagg available year round, or is it just released once a year, and when it's gone it's gone until the following year?

To date, it has been an annual fall release of the limited bottles. The 2004 was released in September (in KY, anyway -- most other places that got any didn't see it until early-October). The total production was just 4,100-plus bottles, and that was the biggest ever. So, you can see, it can't be distributed very widely. Not really surprising even many storeowners don't know of it -- they've never seen it available to them.
As to how long it lasts, that's a matter of supply and demand, the latter of which outstrips the former pretty quickly almost everywhere. I'm lucky enough to live in an area that gets a pretty good supply -- I purchased the '03 release as late as Christmas week 2004, and saw a few '04 bottles still on shelves as late as last week. Apparently, many bourbon lovers not already 'in the know' see the proof and the price and just opt for their old standby instead. That's okay -- it leaves more for me.
As Mike noted, there will be an additional production run this spring. So, keep searching.

[Ken Weber]

Stagg will probably remain an annual release for the next several years. At 15 to 16 years of age, we just don't have that much whiskey available. The proposed Spring release is more of a fluke than anything else.

Stagg was created to be a very different product each time it is released. Just like wine varies from harvest to harvest, we want to present different expressions arising from a similar mash bill. This highlights the differences a year or two can make, plus the aging conditions affect on the finished spirit.

Ken