Editor’s Note: Today we bring you the fifth of five in a series of reviews on each of the individual whiskies from Buffalo Trace’s 2016 Antique Collection. We have so far touched upon Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old, Sazerac Rye 18-Year-Old, William Larue Weller and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye. As a bonus, we will also be embedding at the end of each review the annual release letter tied to each expression. This will give you a lot more specifics to consider.The 2016 George T. Stagg expression was distilled in the spring of 2001, making it about 15 years old. The batch is made from a wide-ranging selection of 142 barrels drawn from warehouses M, N, H, L, and K – and Buffalo Trace tells us that the release is exceptionally small “due to some very greedy angels.” That statement – as well as the intensely oaky quality of this spirit – makes me wonder if the barrels were drawn from the upper quarters of the warehouse.
Tasting Notes: George T. Stagg (2016)
Vital Stats: No age statement, estimated 15 years old, 144.1 proof, $90 suggested price for a 750ml bottle but you’ll likely pay more
Appearance: Rich mahogany, slightly lighter than the Weller
Nose: Salt, beeswax, dark fruit (skins, not real juicy), a bit of anise, caramel cream sauce, wet pavement. Quite oaky too. Interesting, complex, appealing, but get too close while you’re sniffing and you’ll singe your nose with ethanol. With water, there’s dandelion flower, old attic, and vanilla extract.
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Palate: Have you ever gone out for Szechuan food and bitten into your first soup dumpling with excitement, only to sear the interior of your mouth with boiling hot liquid so badly that you can’t taste anything else for days? That’s what drinking this straight is like. Massive waves of knee-quivering oak and excoriating ethanol made my eyes water almost immediately. Behind it all, I still picked up a few flavor notes that weren’t like licking an unfinished hardwood floor: anise, potpourri, sandalwood – but it was hard to decide if I was tasting spice, or just feeling the prickle of pure alcohol.
With water, things become a bit more manageable. Notes of gingersnap cookie and Ceylon cinnamon suggest a successful Christmas cookie swap, although there’s a mouth-puckering tannic quality in the finish that reminds me of over-steeped black tea.
Final thoughts:
Call me a wimp, but this is just too hot for me. Adding water certainly helps, but after tasting it straight, I felt like my mouth was too eroded to really sense what was going on for several minutes afterwards. The intriguing nose and spicy, cookie-like components of the entry are quite nice, but the finish left me unconvinced.
Score: 85 [SHOP FOR A BOTTLE OF GEORGE T. STAGG]
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