Buffalo Trace announces one of its rarest, oldest and priciest bourbon releases ever
Buffalo Trace Distillery is again releasing one of its oldest bourbons in a special version. The third edition of Double Eagle Very Rare Bourbon is available starting this month but good luck finding any.
It’s a 20-year-old bourbon, aged twice as long as Buffalo Trace’s standard (and award-winning) Eagle Rare. According to the distillery, it is aged on the lower floors of Buffalo Trace’s historic Frankfort warehouses, which reduce evaporation.
Despite that, there isn’t a lot of Double Eagle 2021: Only 199 bottles were produced. Each is individually numbered and comes with a letter of authenticity in a hand-blown crystal decanter and silver box, which all comes packaged in a bag.
The decanter has two blown-glass eagles: One on the stopper and one inside.
The rarity and the presentation make for a fancy price tag: The suggested retail price for Double Eagle Very Rare is $2,000.
Buffalo Trace began releasing the 20-year version in 2019, but this is the first time that it will be at 101 proof, a nod, the distillery says, to the original proof of Eagle Rare when it was first released in 1975, in advance of the bicentennial.
Because you’re unlikely to get your hands on a bottle, it might be considered cruel of Buffalo Trace to even include tasting notes for this but they do, with a caveat online: “Like nothing you’ve ever tasted.”
So for your vicarious enjoyment, the Double Eagle has “a nose of dark cherries and creamy caramel, on the palate, dark chocolate, smoked oak and dates, followed by a long, complex finish of cinnamon, anise and oak.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
