Blanton's Original Single Barrel
Sazerac Company (Buffalo Trace, est. 1773) · Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Blanton's Original Single Barrel didn't just create a bourbon — it created a category. When Elmer T. Lee bottled the first single barrel in 1984, he proved that elegance and bourbon weren't contradictions.
Nose
A wave of creamy vanilla and caramel opens the glass, followed by ripe cherry, butterscotch, warm baking spice, toasted oak, and a fleeting orange zest that lifts the entire bouquet. There is a refined sweetness here — nothing cloying, everything in proportion.
Palate
Full-bodied and velvety with honeyed caramel, dark cherry, leather, charred oak, a dusting of brown spice, and a mid-palate surge of citrus that brightens the richness. The mouthfeel is luxuriously smooth — a testament to the careful single-barrel selection from Warehouse H.
Finish
Long and graceful with lingering vanilla, toasted oak, leather, maple sweetness, and a dry spice fade that leaves you reaching for one more sip. The elegance of the finish is what separates Blanton's from the field.
- Mash Bill
- Mash Bill #2: ~15% Rye, ~75% Corn, ~10% Malted Barley
Cocktail Suggestion
The Warehouse H Old Fashioned: 2 oz Blanton's Original · 1 bar spoon demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · 1 dash orange bitters · large ice cube. Stir gently in a crystal rocks glass, express an orange peel over the surface, and drop it in.
Food Pairing
Seared duck breast with a cherry-port reduction and roasted sweet potatoes.
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