Musician Chris Stapleton and Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley collaborated on Traveller, a new blended whiskey.
Singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton is no stranger to whiskey, waxing poetic about it frequently in his music, from hit covers of “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Whiskey River,” to several songs of his own, including “Whiskey and You,” “Whiskey Sunrise,” and “Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey.” Given all this whiskey talk, it’s not a far leap to see that Stapleton has an affinity for the dram, and that’s led him to release his first whiskey.
Named after his debut studio album, Stapleton’s Traveller whiskey is a collaboration between himself and Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley. Stapleton recorded Traveller in 2015 in Lexington, Kentucky, which is just 30 miles from Buffalo Trace; it was during one of those recording sessions that he became acquainted with E.H. Taylor, Jr., one of the distillery’s labels. Soon bottles were a mainstay on his home bar, and backstage with him as he toured.
The debut Traveller whiskey, Blend No. 40, is a smooth, pleasantly sweet sipper that clocks in at 90 proof and is billed as an ideal neat serve or cocktail component. In making the final blend, Stapleton and Wheatley went through some 50-plus combinations before landing on a whiskey that’s fragrant with oak, vanilla, leather, and shortbread, and brings forth flavors of black currant, sweet maple, and toasted nut. While details on what goes into the whiskey are sparse, all components of the final blend come from Sazerac Co. distilleries, which in this case most likely points to Buffalo Trace, A. Smith Bowman, and/or Barton 1792, though Sazerac also owns India-based Paul John and Montréal's Old Montréal Distillery.
Though this is the first whiskey brand from Stapleton and Buffalo Trace, the pair have had a common thread since the mid-2010s, as the distillery has supported Stapleton’s charity, Outlaw State of Kind, on numerous fundraising initiatives. In a handful of cases, Stapleton selected single barrels of E.H. Taylor Jr. for the benefit of the charity.
Should you want to try Traveller for yourself, it should be fairly easy to find—the whiskey is being released nationwide at $40.
