Today’s tasting, like the last one, involves a very rare and hard to find legendary Bourbon. For the last blog it was Old Rip VanWinkle, for this one, George T Stagg. Like Rip, Talking Bourbon has not seen a bottle of GTS for sale for quite some time, and like Rip, TB had to rely on it’s guest taster to supply the bottle(more on that later).
George T Stagg Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is part of Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection series. It is unfiltered and uncut, the latter making for a very high proof, in this case 129.2. It has been aged approximately 15 years and comes in a tall, sleek looking corked bottle with the well known antlers. As stated before it is very hard to find, at least here in the Indianapolis area.
Helping review George T Stagg is Chip Snyder, and as mentioned before, he brought the bottle of Stagg to the tasting. Chip entered a lottery to win the right to buy a bottle of Stagg and actually won(lucky for us). He paid $200 which might sound high until you see what people are asking for it online, we have seen over $800.
NOSE
Chip: Honey and oak upfront with some caramel and hickory coming in behind that.
TB: A very nice nose that surprisingly does not smell hot. Like Chip, TB gets the strong scents of honey, oak and caramel along with black fruit, tobacco and toffee. Also getting a slight hint of cocoa and even slighter hint of vanilla.
TASTE
Chip: Upfront I taste the caramel and wood that I got on the nose. Secondary flavors include spice, smoke and a slight floral taste. This is not a taste but it seems almost creamy.
TB: Very good neat even though a little water definitely opens it up. Strong tastes of caramel, leather and oak. Coming in behind that is a nuttiness, a mustiness and a fruitiness. TB really likes.
FINISH
Chip: Very long sweet finish.
TB: Long to very long finish with a slight chocolate taste.
OVERALL
Chip: I like it, tastes nothing like any Bourbon I have ever had.
TB: Love this stuff! Love everything about this Bourbon.
Nose 4.75 out of 5
Taste 9.5 out of 10
Finish 4.5 out of 5
Total score 18.75 out of 20 barrels
Talking Bourbon wishes this was their bottle seeing as how it is one of the finest, in TB’s opinion, Bourbons you can drink. GTS has it all, from the cool bottle and the mystique surrounding it to the great nose, taste and finish, nothing not to like. Sad it is so hard to find.
If you can find it, even at $200, TB recommends buying a bottle of George T Stagg. You will not be disappointed.