E.H. Taylor, Jr. Seasoned Wood is a bottled-in-bond Kentucky bourbon from Buffalo Trace built around one question: what changes when barrel staves are prepared differently before charring. It came out in spring 2016 as a one-time release and remains one of the more experimental bottles in the Taylor series.
About This Bourbon
This was the eighth bottling in the Taylor collection: a wheated bourbon recipe aged for more than ten years and bottled at 100 proof. The barrels were made by Independent Stave Company, working with oak scientist Dr. James Swan. Some staves were soaked in a heated, enzyme-rich bath and then kiln dried to the right humidity. Others were left outdoors for six months, and some for a full year, before being coopered, charred and filled in Frankfort. Whiskey from these barrels went into a single small batch.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Toffee, soft wheat bread, cinnamon and a clean sweep of toasted oak.
- Palate: Rounded and fairly gentle for its strength, with brown sugar, vanilla, orange peel and a drying cedar note.
- Finish: Medium to long, with oak spice and a little cocoa.
Serving & Food
Serve at room temperature, around 18 to 20°C, in a tulip-shaped glass. Taste it neat first, then with a small splash of water to see how the wheat softens the oak. At the table it sits well beside roast pork belly, a pear and walnut tart or a wedge of aged Comté.
How to Enjoy
Comparing how oak treatment changes a whiskey, or lining up the Taylor limited editions side by side.
Product Details
Producer / Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Expression: E.H. Taylor, Jr. Seasoned Wood
Style: Straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey, bottled-in-bond
Mash Bill: Wheated bourbon recipe
Age: More than 10 years (no age statement)
Oak detail: New oak barrels from staves either bathed and kiln dried, or seasoned outdoors for 6 or 12 months, before charring
Release: 2016, one-time release
ABV: 100 proof / 50% ABV
Volume: 750mL
Origin: USA
Region: Kentucky
About the Distillery
Buffalo Trace sits on the bank of the Kentucky River in Frankfort and belongs to the Sazerac Company. Much of the site's shape comes from Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., who took charge of the distillery after the Civil War, brought in copper fermenters and column stills, and built climate-controlled ageing warehouses. Harlen Wheatley, who learned under Elmer T. Lee, is master distiller today. Taylor also pressed for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, and every Taylor bottling since has followed its rules. This one put the wood itself under the microscope.