Stagg Batch 24A opened Buffalo Trace's 2024 run of its barrel-proof bourbon. It was bottled uncut and unfiltered at 127.6 proof (63.8% ABV), a little lower than many earlier batches, and is widely described as one of the fruitier Staggs.
About This Bourbon
Batch 24A was the first of four Stagg batches released in 2024, followed by 24B, 24C and 24D. The label carries no age statement, though retailers put the barrels at eight years or more. At 127.6 proof it sits toward the gentler end of the series, and reviewers picked out ripe red fruit, leather and cocoa over the usual caramel and oak.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Ripe cherry and raspberry, cigar box and old leather, with cocoa and a wisp of barrel smoke.
- Palate: Full and dense: plum and dark fruit, burnt caramel, cinnamon and a firm, tannic oak grip.
- Finish: Warming and long, with espresso, pepper and a lingering dark-fruit sweetness.
Serving & Food
Serve it at around 20°C in a tulip glass, starting neat and adding a teaspoon of water if the heat dominates. A single large ice sphere also works on a humid Hong Kong night. Good partners are roast duck, beef rendang or a cherry and dark chocolate tart.
How to Enjoy
Fans of full-strength bourbon who like red fruit in their glass, and anyone comparing the 2024 Stagg batches.
Product Details
Producer: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Batch: 24A
Release year: 2024
Mash Bill: Buffalo Trace Mash Bill #1 (low rye)
Age: No age statement (at least 8 years)
Proof: 127.6
ABV: 63.8%
Format: 750mL bottle
About the Distillery
The name belongs to George Thomas Stagg, the nineteenth-century whiskey salesman who became owner of the Frankfort distillery that once carried his name and is now Buffalo Trace. His better-known namesake is George T. Stagg in the Antique Collection, a long-aged annual release; Stagg is its more frequently bottled barrel-proof sibling.
Buffalo Trace first bottled it in 2013 as Stagg Jr. and simplified the name to plain Stagg in 2022. The whiskey comes from the distillery's low-rye Mash Bill #1 and goes straight from barrel to bottle with no water added, so every batch has its own proof and character.