Barrel_Proof Posted November 22, 2004 Share Posted November 22, 2004 Attached is a copy of an e-mail I sent earlier today to my fellow shareholders who selected a barrel of 8 year old Buffalo Trace this September in Frankfort. I thought others on the board might find this of interest. Fellow Shareholders: I picked up my share of our Buffalo Trace Single Barrel yesterday and offer a few observations after a comparison of bottle #95 of our BTSB to an off-the-shelf BT ("OTSBT") bottled a few years ago. My first observation was a surprise. Although our barrel (#4) was the darkest of the five made available to us, our BTSB was lighter in color than my OTSBT. The BTSB was also not as hot in the nose as my OTSBT. Coupling these observations, it's possible that my OTSBT was actually bottled somewhat above 90 proof and our BTSB bottled somewhat below 90 proof. If so, this could account for the darker color and hotter nose of the OTSBT. Our BTSB is – as I remembered it – a bourbon that shines through its highlights and brightness. It has a lovely floral and citrus bouquet. The promises offered by the bouquet open up in the mouth, where it really shines. It tastes great. It’s warm, but doesn’t burn. The top end of this bourbon is what distinguishes it, in my opinion. It is, quite simply, a delightful quaff. It has floral and citrus characteristics that I do not associate with BT bourbons generally. In these respects, it differs markedly from my OTSBT, which has more vanilla and caramel than our BTSB. The OTSBT is, indeed, a creamier bourbon. As I mentioned to many of you in Bardstown, these are qualities that I associate more with the typical ETLee offering. I suspect that the popularity of the other barrel finalist (#3) was a consequence of the fact that that barrel, too, had more vanilla and caramel than did barrel #4 which ultimately became our BTSB. I would like to add to these first impressions that I now believe, even more than I did in Frankfort, that we absolutely made the right selection. Having discussed the process of picking single barrels both with the late Joe C. and more recently with Brett P., who now picks the barrels for Binny’s, I am convinced that the bourbon we selected possesses unique, distinctive characteristics that distinguish it from the crowd. Distinctive, distinguished bourbon is what I look for in a single barrel and I firmly believe that we found that in this barrel of 8 year old Buffalo Trace. I hope that you will be as pleased as I am with our BTSB. If I were to describe our BTSB in one word, that word would be “sprightly.†To all involved, please accept my thanks. Warm and spirited regards,Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted December 3, 2004 Share Posted December 3, 2004 Yes indeed Cliff, it is sprightly, and might tasty at that. Of all those I've spoken to that have tasted this, everyone's been extremely pleased. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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