Buffalo Sharp

[Simplicio]

I'm curious to know if anyone has encountered this product. It is called Buffalo Sharp (straight Bourbon whiskey), and is bottled by or for the French company SLAUR. On the label it says "Imported from Kentucky". It comes in four and eight year old versions.

I'm just wondering what distillery could be hiding behind the label.

[FlashPuppy]

Heaven Hill does a lot of obscure bottlings, but then again Buffalo Trace.... I would be willing to bet either one of these. I am sure BettyJo can confirm wether or not this is HH.

[boone]

Heaven Hill does a lot of obscure bottlings, but then again Buffalo Trace.... I would be willing to bet either one of these. I am sure BettyJo can confirm wether or not this is HH.

Nope, not us :grin:

[OscarV]

I found one place that said it was distilled in Frankfort, KY, and shipped to France and bottled there.

Frankfort only has Buffalo Trace,....correct?

[FlashPuppy]

Yep. Buffalo Trace it is then. BTW, welcome to the forums Simplicio.

[Simplicio]

Thanks for the replies. I have the eight year old and it's not bad; quite woody/resiny with some tobacco (I think), and a long bitter aftertaste. Not very sour, and somewhat heavy. Better than the last bourbon I had - JB Black. But then again, I've only begun drinking Bourbon recently!

[Nebraska]

Wow...what a description....good tasting notes. I'm thinking that might not be the bourbon for me however. Where are you at in China and what do you have available to you in the way of Bourbon?

My name is Mark by the way and welcome.

[Rughi]

I found one place that said it was distilled in Frankfort, KY, and shipped to France and bottled there.

Frankfort only has Buffalo Trace,....correct?

And Jim Beam...

Roger

[FlashPuppy]

And Jim Beam...

Roger

Jim Beam is in Clermont according to my Whiskey book by Michael Jackson. Am I missing something?

[Rughi]

Jim Beam is in Clermont according to my Whiskey book by Michael Jackson. Am I missing something?

When it suits them they label their products as "Frankfort*Clermont, Kentucky" (they use a dot between the cities). I think their two distilleries are more correctly stated as Clermont and Boston, but then I'm not a local and only have 2 or 3 Beam bottles since 1987 to check. Both of my Beam-era Grand-Dad bottles call out "Frankfort*Clermont" but the Knob Creek only lists Clermont.

I'm no expert on Beam, but they may have started printing Frankfort on some labels after the National Distillers sale, where they acquired at least three Frankfort area distilleries, Grand-Dad, Crow, and Taylor. I believe that none of these distill, only the Grand-Dad facility is active for bottling, and it appears that Beam may be slowly vacating the Crow rickhouses. Perhaps they only list Frankfort on labels of the brands that were _traditionally_ from Frankfort.

Roger

Ps I'm amazed at how little Beam product I have. Only 3 post-1987 bottles were easily found to check, when I could have easily pulled out 20 from HH, BT, ND, or even various incarnations of SW. I hadn't realized that about my stash...

[jeff]

Beam's Frankfort plant is the Old Grandad distillery. Currently they only age and bottle there. If this says it was distilled in Frankfort, I would bet it's Buffalo Trace unless it is an older bottling.

[cowdery]

27 CFR 5.36 Name and address.

(a) "Bottled by." (1) On labels of domestic distilled spirits

there shall be stated the phrase "bottled by," "packed by," or

"filled by," immediately followed by the name (or trade name) of the

bottler and the place where such distilled spirits are bottled. If the

bottler is the actual bona fide operator of more than one distilled

spirits plant engaged in bottling operations, there may, in addition, be

stated immediately following the name (or trade name) of such bottler

the addresses of such other plants.

(a)(6) The label may state the address of the proprietor's principal

place of business in lieu of the place where the bottling, distilling or

rectification operation occurred, if the address where the operation

occurred is indicated by printing, coding, or other markings, on the

label or on the bottle.

This is just paragraphs (1) and (6), so obviously there's a lot more to the "name and address" rules, but those are the highlights.

Paragraph (a)(6) explains why Four Roses says Lawrenceburg, KY on its labels, although no bottling is done there.

The rules are different (require more) for bottled in bond.

And producers may always provide more information than is required.

The two bottling plants Beam uses are at Clermont and Frankfort. Boston has a distillery, but no bottling, hence I've never seen "Boston" on a label.

[Simplicio]

So, it's either Buffalo Trace or a Beam product ...

To answer Mark's question from earlier: The only Bourbon that I have ever seen anywhere here, except for the Buffalo Sharp, are the JB white and black labels. They are often kept behind glass. It is quite odd to see JB white in a glass cabinet as if it were expensive cognac.

And it is pretty similar for other kinds of whisky as well. Very limited selection, usually only the widely available and bottom shelf brands.

Plenty of expensive cognac here, however.