E. H. Taylor and Chris Stapleton fans consider yourselves put on notice: Bottled in Bond Day 2021 is capping off with a rare bourbon release that you’ll want to try and grab—partly because it’s for charity, and partly because it’s damn delicious.
Buffalo Trace is partnering with musician Chris Stapleton to help disaster relief efforts in Texas and Kentucky with a special release of E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled in Bond Bourbon up for auction today and through the next few weeks.
The single barrel, which is also released to commemorate the 124th anniversary of Bottled in Bond Day, is a one-off charity bottle not available in retail—one of the many reasons collectors are going to want to keep an eye out for this one.
Here’s a little info on the pedigree of this bottle: it’s an E.H. Taylor single barrel bourbon, produced in partnership with Taylor super fan Chris Stapleton, who explains that he’s loved the bourbon since he first tasted it. “The first glass of E. H. Taylor, Jr. I ever had was in the studio. Vance Powell, engineer of both music & good times, brought a bottle to the session for inspiration. That week we recorded an entire album, and that album was Traveller. We’ve made it a point to keep a bottle around ever since.”
Buffalo Trace didn’t share many details about this barrel in particular, but we do know that there are less than 100 bottles, and the first of them are being sold or auctioned off for proceeds to support disaster relief in Texas and Kentucky, with further releases benefiting causes through Stapleton’s charity Outlaw State of Kind.
“We’ve very excited to partner with Chris Stapleton and Outlaw State of Kind,” said Joshua Steely, E.H. Taylor, Jr. brand director, in a statement released this morning. “We knew Chris was a big fan of E. H. Taylor, Jr., so we thought this was a perfect way to commemorate Bottled in Bond Day, by partnering with his charitable fund so fans of both his music and our bourbon can help out needy causes across the country through the various events and auctions that will be held throughout the year.”
According to Buffalo Trace, this E. H. Taylor, Jr. Single Barrel was “put in the barrel on January 5, 2012, and bottled in early February at 9 years old,” at 100 proof.
So collector value and charitable impact aside, what does it taste like? I’m not trying to hype for the charity when I say that this is genuinely one of the three best bottles of E.H Taylor I’ve ever tasted. It’s perfectly aged—just hitting that equilibrium between vanilla and more intense barrel-based flavors. It’s a delight in the glass.
The nose is profoundly rich, with candied and fresh cherries, grated cinnamon and wood varnish.
On the palate, it’s initially so light and silky on the tongue, but those delicate sugars quickly explode in a bass drop of oak and rye spice, which braces your tongue, before mellowing into a long, dry, lingering finish.
Put simply, this handily beats anything else in the Taylor portfolio you might be searching for right now.
You can have it, by the way, if you win an auction. The current bottle is bid over $5,000 at the time of this writing, but our understanding is that more will be released in the coming days.
The bottles are signed by Stapleton, marked with a commemorative 124th anniversary sticker, and probably going to turn some heads on the market, but if you have the chance to crack one open, do it. This is good liquid, and not just because it’s raising money for a worthy cause.
