Situated on the Kentucky River in Frankfort, Kentucky, Buffalo Trace Distillery takes its name from an ancient pathway that migrating buffalo used when traveling westward. The trail was well-known among Native Americans and was eventually used by pioneering settlers who crossed the Ohio River and followed the buffalo trace to the Western frontier.
Buffalo Trace Distillery is the oldest continually operating distillery in the United States and includes the rich legacies of master distillers such as E.H. Taylor, Jr, George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee. Today, the distillery is still family-owned, operating on the same 130 acres of land adjacent to the Kentucky River as it has for over 200 years. Buffalo Trace has produced a wide array of bourbons and whiskeys, featuring several collections from the Antique and O.F.C. Vintages, to Van Winkle and E.H. Taylor. Their Stagg Jr. releases are limited edition barrel proof bourbons, much like the George T. Stagg version included in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.
The distillery released their first Stagg Jr. in August of 2013 and they have produced about two batches every year. Each batch of Stagg is blended from bourbons aged approximately 8 or 9 years, and released at a high and unique barrel proof. The proof numbers are used to identify specific batches. These releases have received plenty of praise over the years and are beloved by many bourbon enthusiasts. Batch 13 of the Stagg Jr. was released in 2020 and it retains the intensity and complexity of the previous releases. It has spent 8 years in new charred American oak barrels. Uncut and unfiltered, it's bottled at 128.4 proof, making it a "Jr." in name only.
