Review: Buffalo Trace's 2024 Antique Collection Whiskeys Are Worth Their Price, If You Can Find Them

Gratitude is important in life. You can be thankful for your health, your wealth, and your whiskey shelf all in one go if you're lucky (or wealthy) enough to find the bottles of the annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Because with it in hand, your liquor cabinet becomes the envy of the neighbors, you've presumably got cash to spare, and you'll be inviting those friends over to raise a glass to each other's well-being.

I was grateful to get my own mitts on samples of these premium expressions for the annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection tasting we do 'round here. Thanksgiving came early to my front door, and because I believe liquor should be shared in good cheer, I'm going to share my tasting notes for each with you, and you, too, shall savor these spirits ... through the power of imagination!

That isn't as nice as the real deal, but you have to admit, it's a little easier to go to work the next morning. And unlike me, you don't have to do any work during the tasting! So kick back and enjoy these BTAC musings.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection is a pantheon of five highly sought-after expressions: a trio of Eagle Rare, Stagg, and William Larue Weller bourbons, plus two Sazerac ryes. No, you won't find any Van Winkle in here, but it could be argued that Weller, once known as Poor Man's Pappy, is even more desirable in its final form than at least some of the younger Van Winkle bottles. The regular editions of this collection's labels aren't usually considered royalty; these are their luminary barrels.

Though Buffalo Trace has many more combinations of grain to draw from in its recipes, it sticks to four mainly, with three represented here: The Eagle Rare and Stagg bourbons share a bill that's extremely high in corn, as Buffalo Trace bourbons tend to be, whereas Weller features a heavily wheated mash bill (though still majority corn by definition). The two Sazeracs in the collection showcase the company's rye mash bill in very different ways.

Most folks won't find these bottles at their suggested retail price of $150 each, but if you do, buy as many as you can quietly, and leave it to Thomas Hobbes to debate whether it's ethical to take advantage of the seller's ignorance. The rest of us will likely be paying anywhere from five to ... woah, how many is 16 times $150? A lot. You'll pay a lot.

While these bottles do get a nationwide release, each state has its own rules on distribution and allocation, which means finding them is, for some people, a question of happy hunting or a great relationship with their liquor store, while others will just have to draw a lucky number. But the good news for those folks is they're the ones who will probably just pay retail price! So it's tough going in either case, and we all know that some of those winners are going to be the ones selling their bottles to the rich whiskey fans who have more money than time or luck.

Buffalo Trace says this year's Weller spent 12 years in the fairly temperate ground floor of the rickhouse, ripening from 114 proof at barrel entry to 125.8 before bottling. I dig wheaters, so I'm making this my first stop.

Smelling the bottle, I get rose and lemon, but poured into a Glencairn, I find it more like stone fruit. Floral with strong tart-sweet trade-off, it promises a lot, including the ethanol burning my eyebrows off. Its legs are slow (very slow) and irregularly close together. No surprise, given the weighty proof and unfiltered output.

The familiar Weller profile dives deep into a sizzling spice I'm more inclined to expect from Blanton's. This ass-kicker of a bourbon brought me flowers before lighting a cigar way too close to a bottle of acetone for my comfort. It doesn't get less sour upon chewing it; it finishes as it started, with little room for anything else. Even a touch of water only adds wheat to the nose before the bookend notes become more pronounced in tasting. Iced up, a nuttiness comes out to play with strawberry and mushrooms. It doesn't get too oaky or sweet. Ice isn't a bad way to do this one, but neat is the way to go.

Eagle Rare surfs my enthusiasm and superstition that Kentucky and Tennessee whiskeys hew toward their best at 101 proof, which this label features even when master distiller Harlan Wheatley and company coax Eagle Rare all the way to 25 years old.

I smell waves of raspberry, lemon, and that heavy corn itself. Drinking it plays out the same, adding mostly some oak to the fruit profile. Chewing it only brings forth its usual pepperiness. This is a straightforward bourbon that won't play tricks. Swallowing leaves a slightly vegetal remainder, nothing overbearing. I wouldn't at all call this one-note, but it's definitely a resonant chord. 

This Eagle Rare bitterly rejects water. With ice, its fruitiness returns, softer now, and the bitterness dissipates, but it remains best served neat. As with Weller, this doesn't need any monkeying around. The BTAC whiskeys are so meticulously crafted that they're usually best consumed as presented. It's quite different from Eagle Rare's last couple outings, sharing only the peppery elements. Still, it lives up to the label with another fine appearance in this contest of champions.

You know, for a guy who felt last year's BTAC Eagle Rare 17 was the best of the 2023 collection, and even ranked it as more satisfying among Eagle Rare's expressions than the statement-shattering 25-year-old, you'd think I'd feel the same this year, yet that's not the case. But I've walked this walk with Weller before, too; it's another label I love, but I found it to be the least enjoyable of the 2022 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.

I love a rye that manages to smell like the grain without smelling like the bread. As nice as those bready ryes are, it feels like more of a feat to deliver the mash with minimal signs of the wort in this uncut, unfiltered, 127.2-proof pop of potency — especially at just six years of aging. I also faintly detect black olives and popcorn, but it's mainly cherry chocolate.

Those olives await your tongue, though. Handy tastes funky and briny, bouncing between vermouth and red bell peppers and peppercorn and who knows what else. It's fitting that the New Orleans rye exhibits the unified chaos of a jazz ensemble. Give it a long breather between sips and enjoy the fruity perfume of a truly complex whiskey on your breath. Its greatness lingers after it's left the room.

Another one to keep clear of water, Handy finds its best notes muted down to Robitussin when you fuggle with it. It's the difference between Little Richard and Pat Boone, even if this is the one whiskey that's not tutti-frutti today. Surprisingly, it benefits from ice, which will underline its savory nuance while clarifying the sweetness, and even emphasizing a touch of chocolate — all while suppressing some of the burning martini notes that might overwhelm. So don't feel bad about it drinking this one on the rocks if you need to sit down after all that neat dancing.

You can beat Stagg, but it's always by TKO. Rich chocolate cake curls out of the bottleneck like an old cartoon aroma beckoning me to try this 15-plus-years stalwart in its 136.1-proof incarnation. That aroma is somewhat diminished in the glass itself, where it's replaced by dried fruits and soft cheese.

Still, the liquid lives up to every promise the gas makes: perfectly balanced, not too hot, and with just a touch of smoke. This whiskey mingles diesel and elote brilliantly. In fact, you're really hard-pressed to pull any of the usual lemons and nuts and whatnot. This is focused juice. Man, Stagg never disappoints.

Yet again, this bourbon does not benefit from a drop of water. Open it up, and it rides the motorcycle right through the barn doors of berry and walnut. And as with its mash bill brother Eagle Rare, it comes back down to earth a bit on ice, but it's not better than it was before. It really is quite nice on the rocks, which I emphasize so that you understand how strongly I'm saying drink it neat. If you want more sweetness and nuttiness out of it, I guess ice it up, but this is definitely a rarity to savor in pure form.

I mused all weekend on which bottle I'd like the most. Stagg might be technically a little better, and its centrist achievement presents its own challenge, but Sazerac 18 has so much character. When it comes to close competition, flair counts.

A big, floral nose blooms from the bottle. I say chamomile, but you have fun figuring out your own flowers. It follows through on the taste, too, but you'll have to savor a cherry-lemon Italian ice quality to get back to the garden. This 90-proof rye is by far the smoothest of this year's collection, and it's nowhere near close.

Where Stagg brought the balance and essence of Buffalo Trace, Sazerac 18 has as much personality as young Thomas H. Handy, just in less exotic notes. Handy is an avant-garde fashionista, but Sazerac 18 has classic style that's mellowed with age. What a sweet pleasure this is. It's practically chartreuse or falernum, a complete spirit unto itself. It doesn't need water, but you can nudge the floral toward vegetal and more oakiness if those are your preference. Even putting it on the rocks, which brings a tartness, delivers new surprises with a thicker, fattier body. It's versatile, offering a new face on the same figure with each method. 

This whiskey is where my $150 would go, if I won an allocation opportunity. In fact, I'm going to go ask my editor if Tasting Table can pay me in Sazerac 18 for this one.

This is my third year sampling the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, and I remain hard-pressed to find a through-line to earlier ones. In previous years, we've seen these labels really stake some wild territory, but this year's expressions cling to their core characters. With something like Stagg or Sazerac, that can be a strength, but it does reduce the bold outlandishness that makes these labels rare enough to pay thousands for. Regardless, the quality is evident in each of these, and there are no true disappointments. You have to love a lot of heat and kick to buy the whole collection, but I'd say at least three out of five of these are definitely worth the markup if you're a rich person who can spare the money. You're unlikely to find much superior in the bourbon landscape.

For those of us who have to think hard about spending $150, though, I'd say stick to Handy, Stagg, or Sazerac 18. Last year's Eagle Rare remains the one to chase, and you can get a long way toward this year's with the high-quality standard edition. Weller remains a rebel who's got a lot of wheated potential if it applies itself at this prestigious academy, but it shouldn't be coming up short against the regular versions. Then again, as noted in our guide to the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, the variation between years makes each installment any label's game. Guess we'll see in 2025.