Buffalo Trace's Latest Unicorn is an Ultra-Aged E.H. Taylor

Col. E.H. Taylor, Jr. is one of the more underrated brands produced by Buffalo Trace Distillery. It certainly has its fans, but it hasn’t quite reached the same level of acclaim as the distillery’s other heavy hitters like Eagle Rare, Stagg, Weller, or Pappy. In recent times, Buffalo Trace has been trying to change that by drawing attention to the label. Just a few months ago, it announced that E.H. Taylor would be joining the annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC), marking the BTAC’s first new addition since 2006. Now the distillery is announcing a new unicorn bourbon under the E.H. Taylor label.

A Rediscovered Method

E.H. Taylor releases are almost always bottled in bond—the brand seldom strays from that standard, most notably for its barrel proof bourbon and rye—and this newcomer is no exception. Named Distiller’s Council, it was crafted using production methods and mashbills that are nearly identical to those used by the eponymous Colonel back in the 1880s. Most notably it taps an undisclosed sour mashing process, which mirrors Taylor’s style and is currently patent-pending. The whiskey doesn’t carry an age statement, and Buffalo Trace hasn’t disclosed the exact distilling season, but we confirmed that the liquid in the bottle is 15 years old.

The newcomer gets its curious name from an event that took place at the distillery in 1996, just a few years after it had been acquired by Sazerac. The “distillers council” was a meeting of prominent people with ties to the distillery—then called George T. Stagg Distillery—that convened to discuss the distillery’s production methods. Attendees included the likes of master distillers Elmer T. Lee and Gary Gayheart, longtime warehouse managers Ronnie Eddins and Leonard Riddle, and a certain newly hired supervisor named Harlen Wheatley—who would go on to become master distiller nearly a decade later, and still holds that post today. The story goes that, after evaluating around 30 samples of different mashbills, ages, and proofs, someone remarked, “Well, we don’t make whiskey the way we used to.” The comment caused the group to discuss some of the production methods used earlier in their careers, sparking a conversation that Buffalo Trace claims led to the rediscovery of Taylor’s original mashing process, which was later used to make this new release.

Along with taking its name from the event, the new whiskey is also bottled in a special Grecian glass decanter that’s modeled after a bottle widely used in an Old Taylor Original Recipe bourbon ad that ran in the 1950s. This release can be found in limited quantities nationwide, and while the suggested retail price is $1,500, you’ll likely have to shell out more than that.

E.H. Taylor Distiller’s Council Bottled in Bond Bourbon

ABV: 50%
SRP: $1,500
Availability: Limited