Buffalo Trace Launches Limited-Edition Prohibition Whiskey Collection

The five-whiskey special collector’s set retails for $1,000.

A distinctive whiskey collection is like a library of sorts, filled with bottles that, like volumes on a shelf, nod to the past and chronicle a whiskey enthusiast’s personal journey. Buffalo Trace is taking its latest limited-edition release a step further, quite literally turning back time with a Prohibition-inspired offering.

The Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collection nods not to bootleggers or speakeasies, but to the fact that the George T. Stagg Distillery was one of six distilleries granted federal license to sell medicinal whiskey during that era.

Buffalo Trace rightly calls those years “arguably the most contentious time period in alcohol history,” and as such, it’s packed plenty of heritage into a series of whiskies that serve as tributes to historic brands not seen in years.

There’s something for every preference in the rare offering, set to release in October at select U.S. retailers, bars and restaurants.

“Each of these brands disappeared slowly in the years after Prohibition, but they were integral to our survival. Without them, today there would be no Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare or Weller bourbons,” said Harlen Wheatley, Buffalo Trace Master Distiller. “The Prohibition Collection is a tribute to these great whiskeys from our past.”

And the offering looks to be satisfying and distinctive for even the most fervent collector.

There’s the uncut and unfiltered, 132.4-proof Old Stagg, boasting a “sweet and mellow taste” in a nod to former owner George T. Stagg. Accordingly, both present-day Stagg and George T. Stagg offerings are barrel-proof whiskies with roots in the Prohibition era.

In a fitting homage to the current rye whiskey boom, the Prohibition Collection also serves up the 107-proof Golden Wedding rye whiskey, with a spicy, smoky finish.

Golden Wedding’s story is one that crosses borders, as the spirit was initially produced by Schenley Distilling at the Joseph S. Finch Distillery in Pennsylvania, before production was split between Schenley and George T. Stagg during Prohibition.

Stick with us here: Schenley later moved production to its Canadian distillery and turned the brand into a Canadian whiskey before operations ceased at the end of the 20th century. And now, well, it could be yours in a small quantity for a limited time.

On a somewhat lighter note in terms of proof, the five-whiskey collection includes the Walnut Hill high-rye 90-proof bourbon, produced at George T. Stagg during Prohibition.

To round out the stellar and covetable offering, famed Buffalo Trace Master Blender Drew Mayville tried his hand (successfully) at Three Feathers, a 100-proof bottled-in-bond whiskey.

The original Three Feathers dates back to at least 1812, and was first a rye whiskey before it was sold as both a bonded and then a blended whiskey.

In this case, whiskey history has a name, and that name is Buffalo Trace (one might say).

Keep a weather eye on the market come October, because this special-edition set retails for a suggested price of $999.99, and delivers each whiskey in a 375ml bottle inside a collectable wooden display case.

Suffice to say, there’s no telling when whiskey of this historically inspired quality will come around again, but Buffalo Trace will absolutely have something to say in that conversation.