Distillery: Buffalo Trace
Proof: 94
Age: NAS (Buffalo Trace states 7 years on their website)
Mashbill: Undisclosed (Wheated)
BACKGROUND: Buffalo Trace distillery was an idea by Sazerac owner, Bill Goldring who own Buffalo Trace Distillery. Goldring, thought of an idea to appeal to the Jewish community by producing kosher whiskey in partnership with the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc). In 2010, Buffalo Trace deided that they would produce three (3) kosher whiskeys, a wheated bourbon, a ryed bourbon, and a straight rye whiskey. In order to meet passover requirements, the barrels of whiskey were sold to Buffalo Trace Distiller's president, Mark Brown, a non-Jewish executive in a ceremony witnessed by a representative of the cRc. After aging for 7 years, Buffalo Trace bottled these whiskies after cleaning all the bottling lines to ensure no contact was made with non-Kosher spirits. 2020 was the first year for the Kosher line from Buffalo Trace and they will continue to release these whiskies after Passover each year.
NOSE: As soon as you take a sniff you're greeted by obvious wheated scents of sweet vanilla, sweet corn, light caramel, and some oak. There is no burn at all but it is definitely on the lighter side. Buffalo Trace Kosher has a straight forward and standard wheated bourbon nose that is on the lighter side. (20/25)
PALATE: Similar to the nose, the whiskey is quite sweet and smooth but is not overly deep or rich. We tasted notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak but there was also a taste and feeling of it being watered down. Kosher Wheat is a middle ground in proof between Weller SR and Weller Anique 107 and it is definitely more on the SR side than OWA. It is incredibly easy to drink and has a lighter mouthfeel. (32/40)
FINISH: The whiskey leaves you with hints of vanilla that fade away into delightful oak and pepper that stays with you for a few minutes after you finish the drink. It is medium in length and like the nose and palate, is straight forward and light. (20/25)
VALUE: The Buffalo Trace Kosher whiskeys have an SRP of $35 which is perfect for these. However, we are already seeing the prices sky rocket up to $100 which is unfortunate but expected. We would pay up to $40 but nothing more than that. (8/10)
Overall: 80/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Buffalo Trace Kosher Wheat is another release from Buffalo Trace that hits the mark. Secondary markets will probably drive the prices of these up which will be unfortunate. This is probably the same juice as either Weller Special Reserve just following a slightly different process and released with a new label. It's an easy sipping whiskey that is priced perfectly but hard to find. If you love wheated bourbons then this is for you but don't go crazy hunting for this or spending tons of money.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: 1792 Sweet Wheat
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Old Elk Wheated Bourbon
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Weller Special Reserve
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
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