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Named for Colonel Albert Bacon Blanton who worked his way up from office boy at age 16 to distillery president, this bottle was introduced in 1984 by Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee as the first commercially marketed single barrel bourbon. Blanton was known for searching the rickhouses for particular "honey barrels" of outstanding quality from the center cut of warehouse H. Unlike most of the other Buffalo Trace warehouses, H is metal sided instead of brick and will therefore change temperature more, potentially accelerating the aging process. Warehouse H has four floors of ricks, each with about 60 ricks each. Rick numbers repeat on each floor. In 1999, Buffalo Trace changed the bottle design to include the eight iconic horse and jockey stoppers which spell out B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S and depict the various stages of a horse race. Notably the two different N's are slightly different, the latter being followed by a subtle colon. Blanton's is bottled by hand so the topper letter is semi-random.
Standard releases include the standard single barrel (this bottle), Straight from the Barrel which is around full proof, Blanton's Gold at 103 proof, and Special Reserve at 80 proof for international markets. They do still do a very limited barrel pick program, and you can find 50ml mini bottles in specific states (they're adorable). The 50ml bottles don't have the lettered topper though the 375ml format does.
🛒Sourced: $75.99 - Buffalo Trace Gift Shop, KY 750ml - what is now the SRP. Don't pay secondary prices for this bottle; it only encourages them. This bottle has been hunted to the point of extinction, more because of it's packaging than any other factor. Blanton's may be the ultimate tater bottle.
🧪Proof: 93 proof, 46.5% ABV
🎨Color: R3 - Really somewhere between R3 and R4, not terribly dark but tipping towards amber
🥔Mash Bill: Undisclosed - 75-80% Corn, 12-15% Rye, Residual Malted Barley Estimated - Buffalo Trace Mash Bill #2 the "high rye" mash bill. Note that this is substantially less rye than the 20%+ of other bills commonly referred to as high rye. Barrel char is a lighter #4 and entry proof is 125. The bottle has the dump date (7/222/2025), barrel number (949), and rick number (44) on the front label. No age statement but the warehouse crew will take samples to the lab for assessment and they will pull them once the barrel passes brand quality guidelines, estimated on average to be around 6-8 years unless otherwise stated. There is some misconception that higher rick numbers indicate a higher floor and therefore are "better" but the numbers repeat on each floor and higher water loss is no guarantee of flavor or balance.
👃Nose: Caramel, honeysuckle, and sweet cereal. Super approachable but understated. Classic BT cherry upon second sniff.
😜Palate: Thinnish on the palate, delicate with more caramel that dips into blueberry muffin. I get a whisp of blueberry/blackberry which I haven't often seen outside of the higher proof editions. The dark fruit is pretty redeeming for me. Very easy to drink and entirely without any alcohol astringency.
💦Finish: Short and Sweet, mild overhang of fruit. Not much of interest here.
🏆 Overall: 6/10 - Great, but still overrated - Without the dark fruit this would be a 5 for me. This bottle is held back by the proof/dilution, almost too mellowed. It is without off-notes and feels very well rounded, albeit thin. If somebody had hyped it for me, I would have been very disappointed. If it is between overpaying slightly for gold or straight from the barrel and picking up multiple of the standard edition, I'd take the former.
💵Would buy again? I am a few horses off of my full pony set so I am afraid that I will end up buying some again, hopefully the higher editions at SRP. From a cash perspective, there are many better ways to spend your whiskey budget.
⚖️Rating Scale:
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume it by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws | Struggle to get through the bottle
4 | Serviceable | Mixing or ice recommended.
5 | Good | Drinkable Neat | An agreeable dram indeed.
6 | Very Good | Any flaws offset by interesting flavors | A cut above.
7 | Great | You find yourself reaching for this one often | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Serve to Impress Guests | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite | You guard this bottle jealously.