May 12: Buffalo Trace's New National Brand Ambassador - Katy O'Donnell...
Fellow Drammers!
Mark your calendars for May 12th! Buffalo Trace needs no introduction. Makers of the most sought-after bourbons in the land, it was a big deal when they announced they were hiring a national brand ambassador for the company — Katy O'Donnell. She is making her first market visit to NYC, and we're honored to be one of the first events she's doing. Everyone in the club is welcome to participate. For those in NYC, you are welcome to join in person, and everyone else is invited to join online. Check out our lineup:
Unreleased Buffalo Trace Distillery Samples - Katy has generously sourced some special goodies from the warehouse that she’s going to surprise us with. Hard to ask for more than that! (IN PERSON ONLY - KATY’S BRINGING THEM WITH HER)
Eagle Rare 17yo, Spring 2014 Edition. We reached deep in the closet on this one, ha. Needless to say, the hallowed ground that is the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection is considered my many bourbon afficionados as the best of the best. Finding bottles of them is another story altogether. We’ve been saving these early bottlings of Eagle Rare 17yo which features bourbon aged on the second, third and sixth floors of Warehouses I and K. This bourbon was aged nearly two decades and (per our friends at GoBourbon, tastes of oak, leather, cinnamon, and tobacco. We don’t encourage flipping here at Drammers, but if you want to get a kick out of what we’ll be tasting, go ahead and google what this one goes for. $2,500/bottle on a good day.
Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey. 64.6% abv. Another of the fabulous five expressions in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, distilled in the spring of 2008, aged on the fifth floor of Warehouse M and weighs in at 129.2 proof. According to our friends at GoBourbon, the flavor has been described as Christmas cake, allspice, coconut, and clove. 64.6% abv. A little less expensive than the Eagle Rare 2014 17yo, but not by much.
Buffalo Trace - Single Oak Project. One of the most ambitious bourbon experiments ever undertaken (and that’s saying something). Buffalo Trace sought out to test a number of variables in the wood that makes up a cask. As they describe it: “It all started with 96 individually selected American oak trees that differed according to the number of growth rings per inch and growing location. Each tree was then cut into two parts - top and bottom - yielding 192 unique tree sections. A single barrel was constructed from each section. Prior to construction, the stave seasoning was varied. The 192 barrels were then charred differently. These single oak barrels were then filled with different recipe whiskeys, at various entry proofs and aged in a variety of different warehouse styles. This experiment allows whiskey connoisseurs to directly compare the impact of seven different critical variables across 192 bottles for a total of 1,396 taste combinations.” For a while they released all of them, and asked the public to vote on their favorite, which they are now aging in larger volumes at the distillery. These individual experimental bottles have become increasingly hard to come across, averaging over $400/bottle ever for 375ml expressions on the rare occasions they come up for sale. We’ve got samples of barrel #27, #68, #102 and #162. All at 45% abv.
Eagle Rare - Single Barrel Pick by Drammers Indianapolis. We were so proud to be able to pick this special barrel, and we’ve been dying to compare this to Eagle Rare 17yo. This is a single barrel version of their normal core range release, which is aged 10 years. 45% abv.
Sazerac Rye - 3 different Single Barrel Picks (by Drammers Warsaw, Los Angeles and Las Vegas). Next we’ll take a look at 3 different barrels our club had the honor picking, all single barrel versions of their core range release. It doesn’t carry an age statement, but is reportedly 6yo and utilizes their low-rye mashbill, making for a sweeter rye. The single barrels are wildly different - the Warsaw barrel has bring powdered sugar notes, while in contrast the Los Angeles barrel has a fascinating undercurrent of orange peel and even a bit of lime. This will be our first attempt to taste them side-by-side and suss out the differences. 45% abv.
Buffalo Trace - Drammers Exclusive Single Barrel. Hard to believe that even their entry level core range product is often heavily allocated these days (one bar we know said they can only get one bottle of it PER MONTH). Crazy. It does not carry an age statement but is known to be a blend of bourbon aged 6 to 8 years. 45% abv.
That’s our lineup! We hope you can join us. As always, anyone who has been to an event is welcome to join and bring a friend. As usual, we’ll order in pizza to make sure nobody is drinking on an empty stomach.
WHEN: Thursday, May 12th at 7pm EST
WHERE: Online AND in person in New York City at 250 Mercer Street, Apt C512, between 3rd and 4th streets
PRICE: $100/person for Members / $125/person for Observers.
ZOOM - Details will be sent through our mailing list on Thursday morning.