Buffalo Trace Astor Select Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

We hand-picked this exceptional single barrel after tasting through barrels in the rickhouse at Buffalo Trace with Co-Master Distiller Danny Khan last summer. We tasted blind, letting our palate and instinct guide us to the bourbon that was the most complex, best tasting and balanced and we were happy to find out only later that it was the oldest barrel in the line-up as well. Officially Barrel # 15-B-17-H-1-02-131 - what that number actually is is a custom made Char #4 New American Oak Independent Stave Barrel, whose staves were naturally air dried for 6 months before the barrel was assembled. Filled on February 17th 2015 and aged in Warehouse H, Floor 1, Rick 2 for 8yrs and 6 months prior to bottling on September 6th 2023. The tops notes here are filled with plump summer stone fruits of mirabelle plum, apricots and peaches but the deep underlying bass notes steal the show with a big flourish of savoury spices and smoke.