Buffalo Trace Distillery · Frankfort, Kentucky (DSP-KY-113)
Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr.
Core Bottled-In-Bond · Uncut Barrel Proof · Special Annual Allocations
Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. is Buffalo Trace's range named for the man who campaigned the Bottled-in-Bond Act through Congress in 1897 — which is why its standing expressions are all bonded at exactly 100 proof. Around that core sit an annual barrel-proof release, a run of limited experiments in grain and wood, and, since 2025, a member of the Antique Collection.
The Elemental Distinction
100 Proof Bottled-in-Bond Core Standard: Small Batch, Single Barrel, and Straight Rye are bonded at 100 proof under 1897 federal guidelines.
Sixteen Barrel Proof Annual Releases: Uncut and unfiltered cask-strength bourbons released annually from 2012 through 2025.
Rare Limited Wood & Grain Experiments: Features Four Grain, Cured Oak, Seasoned Wood, Old Fashioned Sour Mash, and Amaranth.
Historic Brick Warehouse C Storage: Aged in 19th-century climate-controlled brick rickhouses built by Colonel Taylor in 1881–1885.
2025 Antique Collection Inductee: E.H. Taylor Bottled-in-Bond joined the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection in 2025 as its first new addition since 2006.
Vintage Ochre Canister Presentation: Encased in Taylor’s signature trade canister with 19th-century vintage labeling and trade presentation.
Buffalo Trace Distillery & Colonel Taylor Heritage
Frankfort Bottled-in-Bond & Cask Strength LegacyColonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. — a grand-nephew of President Zachary Taylor — bought the O.F.C. (Old Fire Copper) Distillery after the Civil War and rebuilt it into one of the most advanced distilleries of its day, introducing copper fermenters, column stills and climate-controlled aging. His push for quality and authenticity helped pass the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, a federal guarantee of how a whiskey was made. Buffalo Trace's E.H. Taylor line carries his name and, on most labels, the Bottled-in-Bond seal.
Craftsmanship & Cask Architecture
Mash Bill #1 & Cask Strength Integrity100 Proof Federal Guarantee
Distilled in one season, at one distillery, aged minimum 4 years under government supervision, and bottled at 100 proof.
Uncut & Unfiltered
Drawn straight from hand-selected barrels without proofing water, landing between 127.2 and 135.4 proof across all sixteen releases.
Grain & Stave Innovation
Explores four-grain mash bills, amaranth, 6-month stave curing, 18-year marriages, and reconstructed 19th-century sour mash.
Historic Brick Rickhouse
Aged in Colonel Taylor's iconic 1880s brick warehouse, famously surviving a 2006 tornado to create Tornado Surviving bourbon.
Thirty Bottles, One Standard
The Complete E.H. Taylor CollectionThirty Bottles, One Standard
Everything standing in this range is built to a federal definition. The bonded small batch that anchors the range, the single barrel Buffalo Trace draws from Warehouse C and the corn-free bonded rye are each the product of one distillery in one distilling season, aged at least four years under federal supervision, and bottled at exactly 100 proof — not a house choice but the Bottled-in-Bond Act itself, the standard Taylor pushed into law in 1897.
The exception is deliberate: the sixteen barrel-proof batches step outside it, bottled uncut at whatever the barrels held. Beyond the core, the limited releases are where the brand experiments — the four-grain release that won World Whiskey of the Year in 2017, two stave-curing experiments, a reconstructed nineteenth-century sour mash, and the eighteen-year marriage of three mash bills, the one bottling where Buffalo Trace named its recipes.
What the distillery does not publish, on any of these, is a mash bill; the low-rye recipe attributed to the bourbons comes from collectors, not from Frankfort. Each page below states what is confirmed and what is not.
† Official tasting profile notes based on contemporaneous reviewer and distillery disclosures.
Collector Value & Market Position
E.H. Taylor is a collector's mainstay: the Bottled-in-Bond core is hard to find at retail and trades briskly, while its limited releases — Four Grain, Amaranth, the 18-Year Marriage, Warehouse C and the rest — are among the most chased annual bourbons. Because Barrel Proof and the special bottlings vary release to release, the specific batch, proof and condition all matter.
Collector Note & Index
Vault ProvenanceAuthentication & Sourcing Standards
Every E.H. Taylor bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authentic, sealed product and inspected before it ships. See our editorial and authentication standards.
Bourbon Vault Context
Catalogued within the primary Whiskey Collection and The Vault at Midnight Whiskey.
Evaluated strictly on verified liquid specifications, physical inspects, and primary distillery disclosures.
- Distillery
- Buffalo Trace Distillery (DSP-KY-113)
- Series Range
- Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Collection (30 Expressions)
- Category
- Kentucky Straight Bourbon & Rye Whiskey
- Proof Standard
- 100 Proof Bottled-in-Bond / 125+ Barrel Proof
- Packaging
- Vintage Ochre Canister & Glass Etching
- Format
- 750 mL
Explore the complete Bourbon collection in Midnight Whiskey's vault.
Complete Expression Directory & Inventory Index
30 Expressions · Click Bottle To View Inventory| EXPRESSION / BOTTLING | TYPE / CATEGORY | PROOF / ABV | RELEASE / ERA | FEATURE / HIGHLIGHT | INVENTORY ACCESS |
| Small Batch | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | Core Range | Bottled-in-Bond Flagship Anchor | View Bottle → |
| Single Barrel | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | Core Range | Hand-Selected Single Cask BIB | View Bottle → |
| Straight Rye | Straight Rye Whiskey | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | Core Range | Corn-Free Rye Recipe BIB | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 1 | Straight Bourbon | 134.5 Proof (67.25% ABV) | 2012 Release | Inaugural Cask Strength Release | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 2 | Straight Bourbon | 135.4 Proof (67.70% ABV) | 2013 Release | All-Time Series Proof High | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 3 | Straight Bourbon | 129.0 Proof (64.50% ABV) | 2014 Release | 129.0 Proof Twin (with 2022) | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 4 | Straight Bourbon | 127.2 Proof (63.60% ABV) | 2015 Release | All-Time Series Floor Record | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 5 | Straight Bourbon | 127.5 Proof (63.75% ABV) | 2016 Release | Classic Low-Proof Horizon | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 6 | Straight Bourbon | 128.1 Proof (64.05% ABV) | 2017 Release | Mid-Band Equilibrium | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 7 | Straight Bourbon | 129.7 Proof (64.85% ABV) | 2018 Release | Settled Era Transition | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 8 | Straight Bourbon | 129.3 Proof (64.65% ABV) | 2019 Release | Late Settled Era Anchor | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 9 | Straight Bourbon | 130.3 Proof (65.15% ABV) | 2020 Release | First >130 Proof in 7 Years | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 10 | Straight Bourbon | 127.3 Proof (63.65% ABV) | 2021 Release | George T. Stagg Shift Vintage | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 11 | Straight Bourbon | 129.0 Proof (64.50% ABV) | 2022 Release | 129.0 Proof Twin (with 2014) | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 12 | Straight Bourbon | 131.1 Proof (65.55% ABV) | 2023 Release | Modern Era Peak Spike | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 13 | Straight Bourbon | 127.3 Proof (63.65% ABV) | 2024 Release | Final Single-Batch Annual Release | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 14a | Straight Bourbon | 127.2 Proof (63.60% ABV) | 2025 Release | Tri-Batch Sub-Release A | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 14b | Straight Bourbon | 127.3 Proof (63.65% ABV) | 2025 Release | Tri-Batch Sub-Release B | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Batch 14c | Straight Bourbon | 127.4 Proof (63.70% ABV) | 2025 Release | Tri-Batch Sub-Release C | View Bottle → |
| Barrel Proof Rye | Straight Rye Whiskey | Cask Strength (126+ Proof) | Special Allocation | Uncut & Unfiltered Rye | View Bottle → |
| Four Grain | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2017 Release | World Whisky of the Year Winner | View Bottle → |
| Four Grain (2026) | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2026 Release | Special Vintage Allocation | View Bottle → |
| Cured Oak | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2015 Release | 6-Month Stave Curing Experiment | View Bottle → |
| Cured Oak (2026) | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2026 Release | Special Vintage Allocation | View Bottle → |
| Seasoned Wood | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2016 Release | Wheated Stave Seasoning Release | View Bottle → |
| Old Fashioned Sour Mash | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2002/2012 Release | 19th-Century Sour Mash Revival | View Bottle → |
| Amaranth "Grain of Gods" | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2019 Release | Ancient Grain Amaranth Mash Bill | View Bottle → |
| 18 Year Marriage | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2020 Release | Marriage of 3 Disclosed Mash Bills | View Bottle → |
| Warehouse C Tornado | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2011 Release | Surviving 2006 Storm Aging | View Bottle → |
| Warehouse C BIB | Straight Bourbon | 100 Proof (50.0% ABV) | 2021 Release | 10-Year Brick Rickhouse Release | View Bottle → |
† Specifications and URLs verified directly from physical bottle inspects and vault inventory records.
Records & Assurance
Production Methodology
E.H. Taylor whiskies are distilled at Buffalo Trace and aged in 19th-century brick warehouses Colonel Taylor built. Most are Bottled-in-Bond: the product of one distillery and one distilling season, aged at least four years and bottled at 100 proof under federal supervision — the standard the Colonel helped create in 1897. Barrel Proof expressions are bottled uncut and unfiltered at cask strength (often 125+ proof), and special releases such as Four Grain and Amaranth use distinct mash bills. Exact proof, age and mash bill vary by release and are confirmed on each bottle's page.
Authentication & Vault Preservation
Every E.H. Taylor bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authorized, authentic retailer, vault-stored and insured, shipped with protective handling and age-verified 21-and-over signature on delivery, and authenticated by our concierge before it ships. For the details, see our editorial and authentication standards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Colonel E.H. Taylor, and what is the brand?
Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. (1832–1923) is often called the father of the modern bourbon industry. After the Civil War he bought the O.F.C. Distillery — today's Buffalo Trace — where he pioneered copper fermenters, column stills and climate-controlled warehouses, and he championed the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. The E.H. Taylor, Jr. line is Buffalo Trace's tribute to him, made mostly as Bottled-in-Bond whiskey.
What are the E.H. Taylor expressions?
The core line is Bottled-in-Bond at 100 proof: Small Batch, Single Barrel and Straight Rye. Above them sit Barrel Proof bourbon and rye, bottled uncut at cask strength. The brand is also known for special annual releases — among them Four Grain, Seasoned Wood, Cured Oak, Amaranth, 18-Year Marriage and the Warehouse C bottlings — and an E.H. Taylor Bottled-in-Bond joined the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection in 2025.