The Dream Team of American Whiskey Is Adding a Mysterious New Member

After years of amassing accolades and buzz, another hyped Buffalo Trace bourbon is joining the distillery’s prestigious Antique Collection.

A lineup of Buffalo Trace Antique Collection bottles with one blacked-out

By Ben Bowers

Published May 6, 2025

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Pappy Van Winkle is a bigger household name. Still, Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection has always been the more interesting ultra-premium whiskey collection distilled by Buffalo Trace over the last two decades.

That’s because it’s a Dream Team of American Whiskey brands in many ways, albeit limited to a single distillery.

It’s also always showcased a range of different whiskey styles, which today include a high-age statement and high-proof rye and three different bourbons, including wheated, a high-age statement offering and a barrel-proof offering.

Buffalo Trace originally launched the antique collection in 2000. Over the last 25 years, it’s grown to become one of the most coveted annual American whiskey releases each year.

Ben Bowers

Now, a quarter century into its existence, another promising brand in the distillery’s exceedingly deep bench is being called up to the big leagues and joining the prestigious collection.

From a branding vantage point, it’s an obvious move. But from a whiskey-style POV, it might also prove to be somewhat redundant.

Building the Roster

Five different bottles of American Whiskey that make up the Buffalo Trace Antique collection grouped by their introduction into the family. The year they were added is also listed under the bottle. — The Buffalo Trace Antique collection originally included just three bottles. Two additions were added quickly after to bring the series up to five total expressions.

The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, or BTAC for short, has consisted of five different bottles for nearly two decades now.

But the original lineup first launched in 2000 actually only included three bottles – Sazerac 18 Year Old, Eagle Rare 17 and 19 YearOld William Larue Weller, all of which were bottled at 90 proof (45% abv.)

Two years later, George T. Stagg was added to the mix as a novel uncut, unfiltered and high-proof addition.

Then, in 2006, another rye, Thomas H. Handy, was added to the series as a high-proof option to complete the current five-bottle offering.

The New Recruit

eh taylor small batch bourbon — Colonel E.H. Taylor is the newest brand slated to join the Buffalo Trace Antique collection for the first time ever later this year.

Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon is named for Col. Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., whom Buffalo Trace describes as the “Father of the Modern Bourbon Industry” due in part to his many efforts to innovate and modernize the distilling process.

He was also apparently quite the politician, serving as the mayor of Frankfort, KY, for 16 years and successfully advocating for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897.

In 2007, Buffalo Trace opened the E.H. Taylor, Jr. Micro Still, which combined elements of traditional pot and column stills together to conduct new small batch whiskey experiements.

bottle of eh taylor whiskey in a rickhouse — The E.H. Taylor brand already has a strong history of accolades and awards.

Since then, E.H. Taylor has racked up over 120 industry awards, including a 5-star rating from F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal and Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Given this context, Buffalo Trace’s decision to elevate the E.H. Taylor brand into the BTAC makes total sense.

According to Andrew Duncan, global brand director for Buffalo Trace, “[BTAC] was originally created to celebrate our legacy brands and the visionaries behind them, giving whiskey enthusiasts access to some of the rarest and most exceptional expressions from our distillery.”

“As a founding figure who helped define bourbon quality — not just for Buffalo Trace, but for the entire industry — it’s only fitting that Colonel E.H. Taylor Jr.’s namesake brand takes its place among the collection,”

It also appears to better align the whiskey label with the Sazerac Company’s stance on the brand.

E.H. Taylor is listed as part of the conglomerate’s Legacy de Forge collection, which includes the company’s “finest and most sought-after spirits.”

Why Not Blanton’s?

bottle and glass of bourbon on a bar — Many American whiskey fans might wonder why Buffalo Trace chose E.H. Taylor over Blanton’s, which has stronger provenance as a brand, not to mention an avid and international collectors fanbase.

E.H. Taylor is an excellent whiskey brand worthy of joining the BTAC, but I’m guessing at least a few bourbon nerds might be wondering why a Blanton’s expression wasn’t selected for the honor instead.

After all, it’s a brand with massive international appeal, a well-established collecting community, and a lot of history as the original single-barrel bourbon. It’s also made using a different mash bill, Buffalo Trace #2, which would’ve added more differentiation to the current BTAC roster.

I’m purely speculating here, but I’d wager Blanton wasn’t and likely may never be considered for inclusion due simply to legal red tape.

The truth is that while Buffalo Trace exclusively distills Blanton’s as part of a long-term manufacturing agreement, as with Pappy Van Winkle, the company doesn’t fully own the rights to the Blanton’s brand.

Buffalo Trace hasn’t revealed the exact E.H. Taylor expression that’ll be joining the BTAC collection yet, so it’s hard to know exactly how the addition might change the tenure of the lineup overall.

Instead, that privilege belongs to Age International Inc. Though the company is no longer an active player in bourbon production today, it was the last owner of the distillery founded initially by Albert Bacon Blanton, which Sazerac would eventually rename Buffalo Trace.

When Age International Inc. sold the distillery to the Sazerac Company in 1992, it retained the rights to several brands, including Blanton’s, in the transaction while still contracting Buffalo Trace to be the exclusive long-term distiller of the whiskey.

six bottles of van winkle whiskey in front of a fireplace — Similar to Buffalo Trace’s agreement with Pappy Van Winkle, the distillery doesn’t fully own the rights to the Blanton’s brand and instead hold a longterm contract as its whiskey’s exclusive distiller.

Given this tricky setup, Buffalo Trace has little incentive to keep raising the profile of a brand it doesn’t own outright.

From this vantage point, elevating the in-house brand E.H. Taylor to the BTAC makes more long-term business sense. But again, this is just speculation on my part.

What We Still Don’t Know

A bottle of whiskey shown with a white silky curtain covering its label against a white background — Buffalo Trace hasn’t confirmed the exact E.H. Taylor expression joining the BTAC series this year. However, they have confirmed that the whiskey is made from Buffalo Trace’s low rye mash bill #1 and will be aged longer than E.H. Taylor Small Batch.

Buffalo Trace hasn’t revealed the exact E.H. Taylor expression that will be joining the BTAC collection yet, so it’s hard to know exactly how the addition might change the tenure of the lineup overall.

According to Brad Japhe at Food & Wine, Buffalo Trace only recently received federal labeling approval in late April.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that E.H. Taylor is made using Buffalo Trace’s low rye ( <10%) #1 Mash Bill, the same mash bill used by Eagle Rare and George T. Stagg.

five bottles of buffalo trace whiskey on a bar

Buffalo Trace has also confirmed that the offering will be bottled at 100 proof and aged longer than the brand’s cornerstone, E.H. Taylor Small Batch offering.

That’s admittedly not particularly insightful, though. That’s because E.H. Taylor Small Batch is also bottled at 100 proof and doesn’t have an age statement. However, it’s always at least four years old, though typically somewhere between six and ten.

Rest assured, we’ll learn more details as we inch closer to the BTAC’s expected release window in October.

About the Author: Ben Bowers is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Gear Patrol. Throughout his tenure in media, Ben has written and reported on everything from consumer tech to whiskey, watches, cars, camping, and personal style. These days, he gets to write less than he’d like to.