Buffalo Trace Revives Two Iconic Bottles That Haven’t Been Seen in Years

If you’ve been perusing the bourbon marketplace looking for coveted bottles of Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. from last decade, you’re in for some good news.

Buffalo Trace has decided to relaunch two expressions that haven’t been sold in years. However, I wouldn’t delete your Google Alerts just yet. These two bourbons aren’t necessarily identical to their ancestors but they’re certainly still worth considering, and for thousands less.

Buffalo Trace

Taylor-made legacy

The Kentucky distillery launched E.H. Taylor around 15 years ago as an experimental brand paying tribute to its namesake. Taylor himself is one of the most important figures in American whiskey history. He founded the Old Fire Copper distillery around 1870, which over more than a century’s time evolved into Buffalo Trace.

Taylor also advocated for federal regulation of bourbon, lobbying for what became the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897 (more on that below).

Today, the E.H. Taylor brand is among the most revered in the bourbon industry for its top-tier Buffalo Trace-distilled liquid and commitment to small-batch production rather than large-scale continuous production. As such, many of its most iconic bottlings aren’t returning on an annual basis.

Luckily, Buffalo Trace has decided to re-release two important expressions from the brand’s inaugural decade, but with a caveat.

Buffalo Trace

Four times the grain

First up is the Four Grain Bourbon, which was originally released in 2017. Unlike your average bourbon, which is made from two or three grains (at least 51% of a mashbill must be corn but is often paired with malted barley and either rye or wheat), this batch comes from all four major whiskey grains. Unlike the 2017 and 2018 releases, which were aged for 12- and 13-years, respectively, this new edition was “only” in the cask for 10 years.

Buffalo Trace

Based on the concept of recreating what Taylor may have produced during his heyday, this unusual mixture gives the bourbon a nuanced character on the palate that combines sweetness with spice and grain toast. Tasting notes include vanilla, caramel and chocolate. 

Buffalo Trace

A cure thing

Meanwhile, the Cured Oak Bourbon will be the more eyebrow-raising on the pair. The original was a one-and-done bottling from 2015 as the brand’s seventh-ever release. This 2026 expression drops the age statement from 17 years to 10 years, which might irk those hopeful of finally getting a taste of what they missed out on a decade ago. However, the less ambitious aging might also hint at future releases from this same batch (i.e., you might see an 11- and 12-year version in 2027 and 2028).

Buffalo Trace

Cured Oak gets its name from the process of “curing” the oak staves before the barrel is made. This helps prepare the wood for its eventual interaction with the distilled spirit. Usually, the staves are dried for around 6 months but Buffalo Trace had the idea to increase this time to 13 months. The result is a deeper oak-forward profile, with tasting notes of tobacco, dried fruit, vanilla and toffee for this bourbon.

As a nod to Taylor, both expressions are bottled-in-bond, which requires them to come from a single distiller during a single distillation season, be aged under government supervision for at least 4 years and then bottled at 100 proof.

Availability and pricing

Best of all, the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Cured Oak and Four Grain Bourbons will each have the suggested retail price of $80 when they roll out this month at Buffalo Trace’s distillery store and select retailers.

Buffalo Trace

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Cured Oak & Four Grain Bourbons

• $80 at Buffalo Trace

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