We tasted through countless bourbons this year at the VinePair HQ, but one particular bottle stood out in the mix, and left a lasting impression on our minds and palates. That whiskey was this year’s expression of Eagle Rare 17 from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.
Let’s just say 2023 has been a big year for Eagle Rare. On top of stunning the bourbon community with the release of the ultra-aged Eagle Rare 25 — which fetched a jaw-dropping MSRP of $10,000 — the brand also unleashed its oldest-ever expression of Eagle Rare 17. The whiskey was distilled in Spring 2004, making it 19 years and 3 months old at the time of bottling.
Currently, the coveted Buffalo Trace Antique Collection consists of three bourbons (Eagle Rare 17 Year Old, George T. Stagg, and William Larue Weller) and two rye whiskeys (Sazerac 18 Year Old and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac.) The folks lucky enough to get their hands on any of these annual releases usually favor George T. Stagg and William Larue Weller, but this year, Eagle Rare came out swinging, well rested from a 19-year slumber, and ready to take the title as our favorite bourbon.
It might seem shortsighted to directly attribute a whiskey’s quality to its age statement, but we firmly believe that that extra time spent in barrel truly made all the difference for the 2023 release of Eagle Rare 17. Whatever flavor and nuance that developed during that extra bit of time pushed Eagle Rare
