Peat and greet: Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace Distillery prepares to attract UK whisky drinkers to America’s native spirit with big activations and a rare experimental release.

As the Bourbon boom continues to send ripples around the globe, the world’s most award-winning spirits producer, Buffalo Trace Distillery, is making its mark on British soil with a series of activations and innovative product releases that will make the eyes of global whisky drinkers wander.

While golf and whisky often go hand in hand, Buffalo Trace Distillery has been sowing the seeds of a new narrative as an official sponsor of three UK golf tournaments, including the recent Scottish Open.

Known as the leading men’s professional golf series in Europe, the DP World Tour kicked off in June with Buffalo Trace playing the part of the tournament’s exclusive whiskey partner. With various brands in the distiller’s portfolio available to enjoy at the 19th hole, including the flagship Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Eagle Rare 10 Years Old Bourbon, Sazerac Rye Whiskey, and Buffalo Trace Distillery Bourbon Cream, the DP World Tour has provided a forum for the distiller to introduce its portfolio of American whiskeys to golf fans around the UK, and beyond.

Buffalo Trace Distillery aspires to create true innovation in whiskey. Most recently, the Kentucky-based distillery made moves into the traditionally Scottish peat-led sector.

With a mantra of ‘Honor Tradition, Embrace Change’, Buffalo Trace Distillery has never shied away from whiskey innovation in its storied history, and so this autumn, the producer will continue to push the boundaries of innovation with the launch of the 26th expression in its famed Experimental Collection. The new release – Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection Peated Bourbon – uses peat, an ingredient rarely found in Bourbon production, and one that will likely excite the palates of consumers who would usually reach for a smokier style of dram over Bourbon’s traditional vanilla, mint and molasses notes.

Buffalo Trace Experimental Peated Bourbon is the result of a trial by Harlen Wheatley, Buffalo Trace’s master distiller, who reckoned that if the peat character shone through the distillation as he anticipated, the smoky flavour would add an extra complexity to Buffalo Trace’s traditional Bourbon mash bill, resulting in a spirit appealing to connoisseurs who appreciate a traditional – yet completely unique – sipping whiskey. He was proven correct.

The experimental distillate, aged for nearly 10 years in new charred white oak casks, underwent regular spot checks by Wheatley and his team before being bottled at 45% ABV. The nose is smoky and nutty, with hints of leather, mahogany, and cacao beans, and the influence of the peated malt provides a palate of light smoke and brown butter, with a sweet toffee finish.

Keen to experiment

However, Wheatley notes that the Experimental Collection is not about breaking the rules of Bourbon – 95% of Buffalo Trace’s experiments staying within the confines of traditional methods of making whiskey. “We conduct this research to better understand the variables that affect our final flavour profiles,” he explains. “We were eager to experiment with peat to see how it influenced our mash bill from a recipe perspective. We anticipated it providing the perfect hint of smoke, just enough to compliment the sweet and spicy notes from the rye, and I’m happy to report our hypothesis was correct.”

Now, after sales of American whiskey in the UK topped £1 billion (US$1.31bn) in 2016, these latest innovations in the Scotch whisky-adjacent space will allow Buffalo Trace Distillery to surf the ever-growing wave of Bourbon’s popularity in the UK, and it would seem British consumers are more than happy to join it for the ride.