Bourbon Review · Blanton's
Blanton's Original Single Barrel
The Original Horse-and-Jockey Flex
The Story
In 1984, Buffalo Trace looked at a warehouse full of perfectly good bourbon and decided some of it deserved main character energy — bottled one barrel at a time, like it actually mattered. It was a genuinely odd idea for the era, and it worked. Every bottle comes out of Warehouse H, hand-selected, poured at 93 proof, and capped with that horse-and-jockey stopper that single-handedly turned bourbon collecting into a scavenger hunt. Collect all eight letters and spell B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S, they said, like it's a whiskey-flavored trading card set. I'm not proud of how many empty bottles I've kept around for the stoppers alone. The good news: unlike most things people get weirdly obsessive over, the whiskey inside actually earns it.
Nose, Palate & Finish
Nose
Smells like good bourbon — sweet, a little boozy, vanilla and caramel right up front. I'm not going to stand here and tell you I picked out orange blossom or toasted oak. Nobody's nose works that way. If it smells sweet and warm and makes you want to drink it, that's the review.
Palate
Smooth going down for the proof, not a lot of burn. Sweet — caramel, vanilla, the flavor your brain files under "good bourbon" — with a little spice showing up toward the back end. Doesn't smack you around. Dangerously easy to keep pouring, which is either a compliment or a warning depending on your Tuesday.
Finish
Warm, a little spicy, sticks around for a bit and then it's gone. Nothing weird, nothing that makes you stop and go "huh." Just a solid, satisfying way to end a sip.