The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection lands each autumn, and the 2025 release arrives with its usual fanfare and a very welcome plot twist.
The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection now includes a sixth expression courtesy of a new yellow-topped E H Taylor Bottled In Bond Bourbon. This year’s newcomer is the first addition to the lineup since 2006, and it is not just a shiny new label. It is a tribute to Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. himself, the man who pretty much built the modern bourbon rulebook.
Taylor’s fingerprints are all over American whiskey. After buying the O.F.C. Distillery in 1869, he pushed through innovations like copper fermentation tanks, steam-heated warehouses, and grain systems so advanced that Buffalo Trace still relies on them more than 150 years later. He also championed the 1897 Bottled In Bond Act, a milestone in consumer protection and one of the main reasons American whiskey has the reputation it does today.
As the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection celebrates its 25th anniversary, the distillery has leaned into that legacy. The first BTAC release back in 2000 was a modest trio of mature whiskies that landed with little marketing but a lot of flavour. A 19-year-old William Larue Weller, an 18-year-old Sazerac Rye, and a 17-year-old Eagle Rare proved that age statements were still worth caring about. George T Stagg joined in 2002, Thomas H Handy in 2006, and suddenly, BTAC wasn’t just a release. It was an event.
Here it is: The 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection
A review of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection 2025
By the mid-2010s, bourbon mania had pushed the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection to the top of every collector’s wishlist. High strength, long age, low allocations. It was the perfect storm. Add the fact that Buffalo Trace also makes Pappy Van Winkle, and you can imagine how quickly the secondary market lost its grip on sanity. Retail prices stayed reasonable. Resale prices did not. Even today, with the American whiskey boom settling slightly, four-figure listings remain depressingly normal.
And yet last night, a group of UK writers were handed the rare chance to taste the full 2025 lineup in one room, in one sitting, with full transparency from a distillery that absolutely does not need to bare its soul to anyone. It was a reminder of how ridiculously good these whiskies can be, and also a reminder that age is just one part of the story. The suggested retail price is £150.
Below is the full run-through of every release in the 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. The tasting notes were taken consecutively at a formal dinner, so they sit somewhere between serious assessment and enthusiastic scribble. Think of them as a rough guide, not gospel.
E H Taylor Bottled In Bond Bourbon
A major moment. The first new BTAC addition in nearly twenty years treats Colonel Taylor with the respect he deserves. Aged for 15 years and 4 months and bottled at 50% ABV, it is warm, classic and deeply rooted in the traditions he fought to protect.
Nose: Liquidised coffee fudge, fresh hay, banana bread, baking spice, BBQ corn chips, caramel. Then a little Dr Pepper, nutmeg, damp oak, nougat, and earthy black pepper. Everything is drenched in vanilla ice cream.
Palate: Oaky initially, but then comes vanilla, fudge, maple syrup, winter spice, cherry, and Madeira cake. There’s a touch of soy sauce, a little marzipan, and cinnamon pastries.
Finish: The finish intensifies, concentrates, and darkens all the flavours.
William Larue Weller Kentucky Straight Bourbon
A wheated bourbon that shows why Weller’s mash bill has such a devoted following. This year’s barrels were filled at 57% and matured for 12 years and 7 months before bottling at 64.5% ABV.
Nose: Gorgeous wheat sweetness leads with candy floss, vanilla fudge, cigar leaf, gingerbread dough, and cola laces. Basil, bell pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and wet earth provide contrast.
Palate: Strawberry laces lead us into much brighter, vibrant, and wonderfully fruity territory among tobacco, wood tannins, and vanilla.
Finish: Red fruit and toffee sauce. This shows how complex wheat can be. Spice doesn’t have a monopoly on character in bourbon.
Eagle Rare 17 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
A 101 proof release in honour of the original 1975 bottling, though this year’s whiskey sits closer to 18 years and 4 months. It is one of the most consistently elegant members of the lineup. Eagle Rare rarely puts a foot wrong, and this vintage continues the trend.
Nose: Like a fresh Bakewell tart. Marzipan, almond, cherry… Then, Demerara sugar, overripe apple, wood varnish, basil, and an almost Tabasco sauce-vinegary brightness. Loads of crème brûlée decadence throughout.
Palate: White chocolate with raspberry shortbread, apricot yoghurt, cinnamon, BBQ sauce, caramel, and a hint of pencil shavings.
Finish: Sweet and rich with a beautiful maple syrup character.
George T Stagg Kentucky Straight Bourbon
If BTAC has a headline act, Stagg is it. Named for the man who took charge of the O.F.C. Distillery after Colonel Taylor, it is reliably the biggest whiskey in the room. This year’s release was aged 15 years and 4 months and bottled at a blistering 71.4% ABV, nudging towards the upper limits of what Stagg has ever been.
Nose: So much crème brûlée you could feed Clifford the Big Red Dog with it. Can dogs have crème brûlée? Well, anyway, this is huge. Maraschino cherries, peaches, apple pie, and pecan. Hints of soy sauce, clay and red chilli earthiness.
Palate: Drenched in vanilla and caramel, and oak, and decadence. It’s so big it floods the senses. Water brings clarity, with a heavenly chorus of stone fruit, nougat, and Love Heart Sweets. With water, it tastes pink. Make of that what you will.
Finish: So long and with a lovely balance of rich sweetness and cinnamon spice.
Sazerac 18 Year Old Kentucky Straight Rye
A rye born from the legacy of New Orleans’ Sazerac House. Aged 18 years and 5 months and bottled at 45% ABV, it’s a whisky that continues to carry itself with quiet confidence.
Nose: Orange and ginger marmalade on burnt brown toast. Honest. Bonfire char, gherkins from the jar, fresh dill, milky coffee, and a touch of Maraschino cherry.
Palate: Red cola cubes, winter spices, and more dill herbaceousness lead with toffee, peanut butter, and stem ginger in support.
Finish: Sweet, herbal, and with rich oak spice flickering away at the back end.
Thomas H Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey
Named for the man who first introduced rye whiskey into the Sazerac cocktail, Handy remains the wild card of the collection. A little over six years in barrel, bottled at 64.9% ABV, it’s uncut, unfiltered, unapologetic.
Nose: So decadently sweet it’s like nosing melting fudge. There’s also pomander, Granny Smith Apple, the end of a coffee you added too much sugar to, root beer, chocolate cake, and just the smallest hint of Bovril.
Palate: Earthier and deeper than the nose, with posh dark chocolate, sponge cake, orange, and nutmeg,
Finish: Baking spice, green herbaceousness and sweet toffee goodness.
