Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. 18 Year Marriage Kentucky Straight Bourbon — Bottled-in-Bond
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Regular price $2,999.95
Regular price Sale price $2,999.95
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  • ✔ Authenticated by the house — seal, fill level, and label inspected before release
  • ✔ Documented provenance on every bottle
  • ✔ Climate-safe, collector-grade packaging
Age: 18 Years (Vintage 2002 - Released 2020) | Region: Frankfort, Kentucky | Proof: 100
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Midnight Whiskey · The Vault Buffalo Trace Distillery · Frankfort, Kentucky

Buffalo Trace Distillery · Frankfort, Kentucky

E.H. Taylor, Jr.

18 Year Marriage

100 Proof · 50% ABV · 18 years Age · May 2020 Released

100
Proof
50%
ABV
18 years
Age
May 2020
Released
Kentucky
Region
$69.99
SRP

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. 18 Year Old Marriage is a Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky straight bourbon from Buffalo Trace at 100 proof, announced on 5 May 2020 and built from barrels filled in 2002. It is a marriage of three Buffalo Trace mash bills — two rye bourbon recipes and the wheated bourbon recipe — each matured eighteen years separately before being blended and allowed to marry. A one-time-only bottling.

Nº 01

The Elemental Distinction

01

Three mash bills in one bottle: rye bourbon #1, rye bourbon #2 and the wheated bourbon recipe.

02

The one Taylor release where Buffalo Trace names which of its recipes went in.

03

Barrels filled in 2002, married after eighteen years apart.

04

100 proof, Bottled-in-Bond, small batch — three recipes but a single distillation season.

05

Announced 5 May 2020 at $69.99, in stores that June in very small numbers.

06

Six-bottle cases shipped in wooden crates first used for the 2015 Cured Oak release, modelled on the crates Taylor used before Prohibition.

Nº 02

How It Was Made

18 Year Marriage

Bottled-in-Bond requires that everything in the bottle be the product of one distillery in one distillation season. That is a stricter limit than it appears here, because this release is a marriage of three different Buffalo Trace recipes — the two rye bourbon mash bills and the wheated bourbon mash bill — rather than a single one. All of it went into barrels in 2002, matured separately for eighteen years, and was then blended and left to marry before bottling at the bonded 100 proof. The result is the only bottling in the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. collection to combine all three of the distillery's bourbon recipes, and one of very few Buffalo Trace releases where the distillery has said which recipes it used at all, though not in what ratio. The packaging repeated the collection's pattern of vintage label and canister, with six-bottle cases shipped in wooden crates first introduced for Cured Oak in 2015 and modelled on the crates Taylor used to move goods before Prohibition.

Nº 03

At a Glance

The defining facts
Designation

Bottled-in-Bond under the Act of 1897

One distillery, one distillation season, federally bonded warehouse, exactly 100 proof

Batching

Small batch

Age

18 years

Release

Announced 5 May 2020

In stores June 2020; one-time only

Nº 04

Sensory Profile & Strategy

Distiller notes & position
I

Sensory Profile

Nose: Vanilla butter cake.
Palate: Caramel and cinnamon.
Finish: Toasted oak and cinnamon, with a hint of spearmint.

II

Strategic Position

Buffalo Trace does not publish its mash bills as a rule. This release is the exception — not the proportions, but the identities: the distillery stated outright that it used rye bourbon #1, rye bourbon #2 and the wheated recipe. That makes the bottle unusually legible for a Buffalo Trace product, and a reasonable reference point if you are trying to understand what separates their recipes at the same age. It sits with the eighteen-year bottlings we hold.

Nº 05

Collector Note & Index

Vault provenance
→

Collector Note

Two details make this one worth more attention than its release price suggested. The first is that Bottled-in-Bond requires a single distillation season, so a marriage of three separate recipes at eighteen years each is a tighter constraint than it sounds — everything in the bottle came off the still in the same season and then sat apart for nearly two decades before being brought back together. The second is disclosure. Buffalo Trace withholds its mash bills as a rule, and named all three here. If you are buying Taylor bottles to understand the distillery rather than to hold them, this is the most informative bottle in the collection. It is also the one most likely to be described vaguely by sellers, since blend of three mash bills is easy to write without knowing which three. The 2002 distillate that opened the collection came off the still the same year, and the release whose crates it borrowed supplied the packaging.

→

How to Taste It

Neat, and give it time rather than water. Reviewers have noted that for eighteen years in wood it reads less oaky than expected, which is consistent with a marriage that sets a wheated bourbon against two rye recipes — the wheat softens what the rye and the oak would otherwise make severe. The spearmint on the finish is the detail to watch for; it is unusual, it is in Buffalo Trace's own notes, and it tends to arrive late. If you are tasting Taylor bottles together, put this one last: at eighteen years it will flatten anything younger that follows.

Collector IndexMW VAULT
Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Class
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled-in-Bond
Release
Announced 5 May 2020
Proof
100
ABV
50%
Age
18 years
Nº 06

Technical Specifications

Specification Detail
Class Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled-in-Bond
Proof 100
ABV 50%
Age 18 years
Barrelled 2002
Mash bills Three Buffalo Trace recipes — rye bourbon #1, rye bourbon #2 and the wheated bourbon. Proportions not published.
Construction Each recipe matured separately for eighteen years, then blended and married before bottling
Batching Small batch
Release Announced 5 May 2020; in stores June 2020; one-time only
Suggested retail $69.99 at release
Presentation Vintage label and canister; six-bottle cases in Prohibition-style wooden crates
Designation Bottled-in-Bond under the Act of 1897 — one distillery, one distillation season, federally bonded warehouse, exactly 100 proof
Region Kentucky
Distillery Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Nº 07

Records & Assurance

Authentication & Vault Preservation

Every bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authentic, sealed product and inspected before it ships. Orders are packed with padded, glass-rated handling and require an adult signature (21+) on delivery; we do not ship to anyone unable to verify legal drinking age. For our full sourcing and handling protocols, see our editorial and authentication standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What mash bills are in Colonel E.H. Taylor 18 Year Marriage?

Three of Buffalo Trace's own recipes: rye bourbon mash bill #1, rye bourbon mash bill #2, and the wheated bourbon mash bill. The distillery named all three, which is unusual — Buffalo Trace does not publish mash bills for its brands and every other release in the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. collection leaves the recipe undisclosed. The proportions in the marriage have not been published.

What does marriage mean on Colonel E.H. Taylor 18 Year Marriage?

It refers to how the bourbon was assembled. Barrels from three different Buffalo Trace mash bills were filled in 2002 and matured separately for eighteen years. Only afterwards were they blended and left to marry — held together so the components integrate — before bottling at 100 proof. The name describes that final step rather than a style or a cask treatment.

When was Colonel E.H. Taylor 18 Year Marriage released?

Buffalo Trace announced it on 5 May 2020 and it reached stores that June at a suggested retail price of $69.99, in very limited supply. It was issued as a one-time-only bottling and has not been repeated, unlike Four Grain and Cured Oak, both of which Buffalo Trace revived in 2026.

Midnight Whiskey · The Vault 18 Year Marriage

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