E.H. Taylor, Jr. Amaranth is a one-time 2019 bourbon from Buffalo Trace that swaps rye for amaranth, the ancient grain the Aztecs grew and called the grain of the gods. It was aged more than ten years and bottled in bond at 100 proof.
About This Bourbon
Amaranth behaves a little like wheat in the mash but brings its own flavour. Buffalo Trace used it as the flavouring grain alongside corn, following the Mash Bill #1 corn base, with malted barley to complete the recipe. The bourbon spent over a decade in new charred oak before being bottled in bond at 50% ABV in July 2019. It was announced as a one-time-only release. The distillery's notes describe spearmint, honey and a little cherry on the nose, coffee and vanilla on the palate, and an oats-and-honey finish.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Fresh spearmint and honey, with butterscotch and a light cherry note.
- Palate: Soft and rounded, with coffee, vanilla and gentle cereal sweetness; less peppery than a rye-recipe bourbon.
- Finish: Medium to long, with oats, honey, pecan and a little dark berry.
Serving & Food
Keep it neat and straight from the shelf, in a small tulip or a Glencairn, so the subtle grain character is not lost. If you add anything, make it a drop or two of water. Serve with honey-roast pork, oat biscuits and a mild blue cheese, or a slice of pecan pie.
How to Enjoy
Bourbon drinkers curious about grains beyond rye and wheat, and anyone assembling a set of the E.H. Taylor special releases.
Product Details
Producer: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Expression: Amaranth Grain of the Gods
Release: 2019, one-time release (tenth in the Taylor collection)
Category: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, bottled in bond
Mash Bill: Corn, amaranth and malted barley
Age: Over 10 years
ABV: 50% / 100 proof
Format: 750mL
About the Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, owned by the Sazerac Company, named this range after Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., who bought the distillery in the nineteenth century and later fought for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. Taylor was also a great-nephew of President Zachary Taylor and served as mayor of Frankfort.
Alongside a core of Small Batch, Single Barrel, Barrel Proof and Straight Rye, the Taylor name has carried a string of one-off releases that each test a single idea. Amaranth was the tenth. Like the earlier specials it wears a vintage-style label and canister, and the six-bottle cases were shipped in wooden boxes modelled on the crates Taylor used before Prohibition.