At any given time, Buffalo Trace has upward of 15 whiskey brands on offer, ranging from straight bourbons to ryes to wheaters and white dog (unaged whiskey). Within those styles, there are numerous legacy labels, and within those labels, various offshoots, whether cask strength iterations, assorted age statements, or newfangled finishes. With so many whiskeys in the arsenal, you might think the distillery is working with all sorts of recipes—but in fact, it relies on just four key mashbills, plus a few outliers that are utilized far less frequently, as in, say, the one-off releases that populate the Experimental Collection. Technically, Buffalo Trace's recipes are tightly held secrets—no one but master distiller Harlen Wheatley and the distilling team are privy to the exact details of each mashbill—but savvy whiskey drinkers come to their own conclusions on the basic makeup of each.
Mashbill #1 (Bourbon)
The first of Buffalo Trace’s mashbills is the most commonly used, found in legacy labels Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Stagg, Jr., Benchmark, and Old Charter 8. The recipe is predominantly corn, and is widely believed to contain less than 10% rye, with malted barley accounting for the remainder.
Mashbill #2 (Bourbon)
The second of Buffalo Trace’s primary mashbills is a bourbon recipe that’s higher in rye content, though not a high-rye bourbon per se—those have a minimum of 20% rye in the recipe. Rye levels in Mashbill #2 are believed to hover anywhere from 10% to 15%, making for slightly spicier whiskeys, including Blanton’s, Elmer T. Lee, Hancock Reserve, Rock Hill Farm, and Ancient Age.
Mashbill #3 (Wheated Bourbon)
For its third mashbill, Buffalo Trace swaps out the rye for wheat. Given that the exact numbers aren’t shared, it’s possible that wheat plays more of a role in this recipe than the rye does in Mashbill #2. The most famous Buffalo Trace brand made with this mashbill is Pappy Van Winkle, and most all the Van Winkle ilk for that matter, including Old Rip Van Winkle and Van Winkle Special Reserve. It’s also used for the acclaimed Weller whiskeys, W.L. Weller and William Larue Weller.
Mashbill #4 (Rye)
Then there’s Buffalo Trace’s rye mashbill. The distillery favors corn in all its recipes, so it’s no surprise that this mashbill makes use of—reportedly—just 51% rye, the lowest limit allowable by law to still be considered a straight rye whiskey. Among the Buffalo Trace whiskeys made with this recipe are Sazerac Rye and Thomas H. Handy.
Experimental Mashbills
Buffalo Trace released its first barrels of experimental whiskey back in 2006. Since then, the distillery has debuted unique, one-off mashbills at various points. The collection has included a whiskey made with oats; one made from rice; and a whiskey made with peated malt. Outside of the Experimental Collection, the distillery has dabbled in 95/5 rye whiskeys (with E.H. Taylor, Jr. Straight and Barrel Proof ryes), a four-grain mashbill (E.H. Taylor, Jr. Four Grain), and a riff on Mashbill #1 that replaces the rye content with amaranth, a heritage grain (E.H. Taylor, Jr. Amaranth Grain off the Gods).
Once you understand the details behind the four core Buffalo Trace mashbills, it can be a fun exploration to see just how those mashbills can progress across different brands. Take Mashbill #2, for instance—it can be as cheap and cheerful as Ancient Age, a straight bourbon that commands a price tag of just $12, or as prized and precious as Blanton’s, the ever-elusive single barrel brand that goes for as much as $200 on the secondary market (up from a suggested retail price of $65, mind you).
