Review #: 256
Description: Blanton’s Gold
Spirit: Bourbon
Background: Blanton’s Gold is a proofed up version of their standard single barrel offering. Previously only available outside of the US, it was highly touted for its rarity but Buffalo Trace announced it would be a yearly release in the US. This comes from 2020, the first year of its release. Let’s see how it stacks up.
Distillery – Buffalo Trace
Bottler – Buffalo Trace
Brand – Blanton’s
Selection – N/A
ABV – 50.15%
Age – NAS
Nose – Some bright raspberry (almost syrupy), heavy on the corn, almost like pizza crust with yeasty bread, really musty leather that teeters on being just old and stale and almost moldy and off putting
Taste – Kind of straightforward with vanilla, caramel sweetness, red apple, honey
Finish – Bit more raspberry comes in, lots of roasted corn, pretty distinct oak, clove, nutmeg. Flavors kind of come in waves with each fighting for dominance rather than being balanced. After it settles, it’s a nice linger of spice and oak
Score: 5
Would I buy a bottle? No
Thoughts: It would be extremely hard to pass if I saw this in a store at retail cost, but while it’s fine bourbon, I don’t think it’s worth 2x regular Blanton’s, which I feel like balances it out a bit better, and there are certainly plenty of releases regularly available under the $120 MSRP that I would have ahead of this. I’ll keep trying to get samples though in hopes of getting a better feel since it is a single barrel product, but this one was a bit disappointing.