Want to know what the Prohibition Collection tastes like? Read our tasting notes, here.
It's impossible to talk about bourbon today without discussing Buffalo Trace Distillery. The brand's wide portfolio not only includes its ubiquitous flagship bottle, but also such lauded labels as Weller, E.H. Taylor, Jr., Eagle Rare, Blanton's, George T. Stagg, Pappy Van Winkle and more.
Buffalo Trace's importance in the American whiskey scene is hardly a new development. The brand's main distillery in Frankfort, KY was built in 1805 and is a National Historic Landmark. Even 100 years ago during Prohibition, the distillery — in those days known as George T. Stagg Distillery — was such a prominent establishment that it was one of just six distilleries granted a license to distill "medicinal whiskey." Today, Buffalo Trace is honoring that tradition with the Prohibition Collection, consisting of five new bottles resurrecting long-lost whiskeys made at the distillery during that time.
As a result of the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, Prohibition was in effect in the United States from 1920 – 1933 and outlawed the production, importation and sale of alcohol until the law was repealed with the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment. But not all alcohol was illegal during prohibition, as exceptions were made for liquor that was prescribed by a doctor. There were many brands of medicinal whiskey created during this time, and most of them disappeared in the years following Prohibition. But they were crucial in keeping licensed distilleries like George T. Stagg in business during those dark days.
The Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collection
The collection includes the following five bottles, with all but one being a recreation of a now-defunct brand distilled as a medicinal whiskey a century ago.
Old Stagg: The forebearer of today's Stagg and George T. Stagg, this brand originally existed as a tribute to George T. Stagg himself and was once the distillery's flagship whiskey. The recreation is a barrel-proof, uncut, unfiltered whiskey with tasting notes of leather, cherry and vanilla.
Golden Wedding: The original Golden Wedding whiskey was first distilled at Pennsylvania's Schenley Distilling in 1869, but during Prohibition, its bottling was split between Schenley's and the Stagg Distillery. The revival is a rye whiskey clocking in at 107 proof and featuring an herbal taste with notes of dill and rye spice.
Three Feathers: Three Feathers was a whiskey that lived many lives, first debuting in 1812 (or possibly earlier) as a rye, then later becoming a bonded whiskey and finally a blended whiskey. The new version recreates the bonded version and is a 100-proof bottled-in-bond whiskey with tasting notes of stone fruit, tropical fruit and a smoky caramel finish.
Walnut Hill: Albert Blanton — yes, that Blanton — shepherded George T. Stagg Distillery through Prohibition as its president, and he personally oversaw production of the original Walnut Hill whiskey. The revival is an old-school 90-proof high-rye bourbon with notes of corn, oak and molasses.
George T. Stagg Distillery Spiritus Frumenti: The only bottle in the new collection that does not resurrect a specific defunct brand, "Spiritus Frumenti" was the generic name for medicinal whiskey during Prohibition. This new version is a wheated bourbon bottled at 110 proof and exhibiting tasting notes such as cherry, oak, vanilla and wheat — no prescription required.
Digging through the Buffalo Trace archives
So how does one go about recreating 100-year-old whiskeys? With a lot of research, it turns out. Nick Laracuente, Bourbon Archivist at Buffalo Trace Distillery, tells me there are over 400,000 items in the brand's archives — of which just one or two percent have been cataloged — and it was through these archives that they were able to piece together what these whiskeys looked like during Prohibition.
"We'd previously seen the box art (for the whiskeys) in the files, we'd always known that existed," Laracuente tells me. "But some of the additional stuff we started finding — like Albert Blanton's thoughts and the letters he was exchanging with the TTB on how the whiskey was being labeled and bottled — allowed us to basically piece together the history ... so these bottlings are like snapshots of what was happening at the distillery at that time, for the most part."
How to buy the Prohibition Collection
The Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collection is a limited release being sold as a complete set. Each set includes all five whiskeys in period-correct 375-ml bottles with artwork inspired by their historical counterparts. The cartons containing the bottles even feature cutouts in the back where a doctor would insert the prescription for your whiskey, which was a requirement during Prohibition. The five-pack comes in a custom wooden display case, and the whole thing retails for $1,000. But with only a limited quantity rolling out to select retailers, bars and restaurants in October, you can expect to pay a whole lot more on the secondary market.
But if you miss out on this initial release, don't fret. This is just the first in what will become an annual tradition of Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collections. But you shouldn't necessarily expect future renditions of the collection to have the same bottles that are being offered today. "Because we had the medicinal license, a lot of different brands brought their whiskey here and we released a lot of different labels during Prohibition," Laracuente says. "So there's going to be a lot of stories we'll be able to tell in the future."
