One of the crucial well-liked whiskeys made by Buffalo Hint Distillery is Eagle Uncommon, and its calling card has at all times been its excessive age statements. The flagship expression in the present day is a wildly well-liked 10 yr previous bourbon, mirroring the unique Eagle Uncommon from the Seagram days, which was bottled at 10 years previous and 101 proof. The remainder of the lineup solely goes larger from there, together with unicorns like Eagle Uncommon 17 (a part of the Buffalo Hint vintage assortment), the 20 yr previous Double Eagle Double Uncommon, and Eagle Uncommon 25.
These older bottlings have largely been out of attain for many whiskey lovers, with the oldest carrying astronomical worth tags and the others promoting out rapidly at retailers. However Buffalo Hint has simply introduced a brand new expression that must be a bit simpler for folks to seek out: a 12 yr previous bourbon that can now be a core expression.
Growing old Up
Apart from the two-year age distinction, the newcomer is sort of an identical to Eagle Uncommon 10 yr previous. Each whiskeys are distilled from Buffalo Hint’s mashbill 1 (the identical recipe used to make Buffalo Hint, E.H. Taylor, Stagg, and Outdated Constitution). The precise particulars of the mashbill are a carefully guarded secret, but it surely’s broadly regarded as a corn-heavy recipe with 10% or much less rye. The brand new whiskey was bottled at 47.5% ABV, a slight enhance from the 45% proof level of the ten yr previous.
Eagle Uncommon 12 yr previous will probably be accessible at bars, eating places, and retailers across the nation beginning this month, with availability in choose abroad markets by autumn. It has a advised retail worth of $50, though contemplating Buffalo Hint’s reputation, you’ll doubtless need to shell out greater than that.
Enlargement Pays Off
In keeping with the distillery, a giant a part of this launch is credited to a important manufacturing growth that Buffalo Hint has been enterprise for practically a decade. The undertaking, which price an approximate $1.2 billion, kicked off in 2016 and has seen new tools and services added on a yearly foundation. A part of the growth centered on revamping the customer middle, however the distillery additionally acquired a large capability enhance, together with 14 new rickhouses, 12 fermenters, and a brand new stillhouse with a 40-foot nonetheless, with the purpose to provide a further 60,000 gallons per day.
Buffalo Hint’s growth was simply one among many who began round a decade in the past, when the entire trade was blindsided by a rising demand for bourbon, which many producers simply didn’t have sufficient liquid to fulfill. Some producers like Beam had been hit particularly onerous, with the distillery utterly working out of juice for its Knob Creek label. Confronted with a scarcity, many distillers started drastically ramping up their manufacturing, increasing their distilleries whereas laying down extra barrels than earlier than.
With gross sales softening in in the present day’s panorama, many distillers at the moment are confronted with a buildup of aged whiskey that’s roughly 7–12 years previous. The distillers, after all, have to discover a option to transfer these shares, in order that they’ve largely caught to one among two methods. Some like Woodford Reserve and Outdated Forester have determined to widen availability for his or her most sought-after bottles, taking their extremely restricted Double Double Oaked and President’s Alternative expressions nationwide for the primary time.
Different producers like Buffalo Hint are as a substitute utilizing these shares so as to add new age-stated expressions to their core vary as everlasting choices. As we solely reported final week, Heaven Hill’s new 7 yr previous Outdated Fitzgerald bourbon will probably be accessible year-round alongside the everyday limited-edition annual batches. Beam has additionally notably taken this route, changing its unique non-age-stated Jim Beam Black with a brand new 7 yr previous model whereas cranking up the age statements for its Knob Creek releases.
