E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash Kentucky Straight Bourbon — 100 Proof

Price

$16,499.95

✔ Authenticated by the house — seal, fill level, and label inspected before release
✔ Documented provenance on every bottle
✔ Climate-safe, collector-grade packaging

Age: 10 Years | Region: Frankfort, Kentucky, USA | Proof: 100

Secure payments

Vault-to-door shipping

Adult signature (21+) at delivery

100

Proof

50%

ABV

Kentucky

Region

2002

Distilled

Not disclosed

Mash bill

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Old Fashioned Sour Mash is the release that opened the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. collection — a Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky straight bourbon at 100 proof, distilled in 2002. It reconstructs a nineteenth-century method recounted by Buffalo Trace Distillery retirees at a gathering: letting the mash sour naturally over several days before distillation, rather than souring it the way the modern industry does. A one-time limited release.

Nº 01

The Elemental Distinction

The first release in the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. collection — everything else followed it.

Distilled in 2002 and bottled to the Bottled-in-Bond standard at 100 proof.

The mash was left to sour naturally over several days before fermentation, a late-1800s technique.

The method was reconstructed from the recollections of Buffalo Trace retirees rather than from a written record.

A one-time offering. It has never been repeated.

Almost all bourbon is sour mash — the point here is the old way of doing it, not the fact of it.

Nº 02

How It Was Made

Old Fashioned Sour Mash

Every bourbon made today is sour mash: a portion of spent mash from a previous distillation, the setback, goes into the next to control pH and keep fermentation consistent. That is not what this release is about. The technique reconstructed here is older and slower — letting the mash sour on its own over a period of days before fermentation, lowering the pH naturally rather than by adding setback. Nobody at Buffalo Trace had a written procedure for it. The method came out of a gathering of distillery retirees who recounted how Old Fashioned Sour Mash whiskey had been made, a way of working associated with Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. in the late 1800s. Buffalo Trace ran it in 2002, filled the barrels, and bottled the result years later at the bonded 100 proof as the first entry in a collection named after him. The mash bill has never been published.

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

Mash bill

Not disclosed

Buffalo Trace does not publish mash bills for its brands.

Age

Reported between eight and ten years

Depending on source — see the Collector Note. Buffalo Trace's own figure is not in circulation.

Release

The first release in the Colonel E.H

Taylor, Jr. collection; one-time only

Nº 04

Sensory Profile & Strategy

Distiller notes & position

Sensory Profile

Nose: Floral, with an undertone of freshly baked bread.
Palate: Light — honey and toast rather than weight.
Finish: Clean, closing on leather.

Strategic Position

A whiskey reconstructed from memory is an unusual object. There was no surviving procedure for how Taylor soured his mash in the late 1800s; there was a room of retired Buffalo Trace employees who remembered being told how it was done, and a distillery willing to run a batch on that basis in 2002 with no idea what would come out a decade later. That is the reason this bottle opened the collection and the reason it is discussed more than it is tasted. It sits as the inaugural Taylor release in our vault.

Nº 05

Collector Note & Index

Vault provenance

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Collector Note

The age on this bottle is genuinely unsettled and you should know that before paying for it. Every source agrees on a 2002 distillation. From there they diverge: some give a 2011 bottling at roughly nine years, others a 2012 bottling at roughly ten, and at least one retailer states eight years and just under nine years in the same paragraph. No Buffalo Trace figure is in general circulation to settle it. Check the label rather than the listing. Worth correcting one other thing that appears in retail copy for this bottle: Taylor is sometimes described as the man who popularised sour mashing. That credit belongs to James C. Crow, the Scottish chemist-physician who perfected the method at Old Oscar Pepper decades before Taylor bought the O.F.C. Distillery. Taylor's contribution here is a specific variant, not the process. The eighth release and its three stave treatments and the single barrel that became the standing expression show where the collection went next.

→

How to Taste It

Neat, and expect less weight than the story implies. The published profile is light rather than heavy — floral, bread, honey, toast, a clean close — which is worth knowing if you are approaching a reconstructed nineteenth-century mash expecting something rustic and huge. At 100 proof it needs no water. If you are opening it against other Taylor bottlings, put it first in the order; anything oak-driven after it will make the bread and honey disappear entirely.

Collector IndexMW VAULT

Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Class: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled-in-Bond
Release: The first release in the Colonel E.H
Proof: 100
ABV: 50%
Age: Reported between eight and ten years depending on source

Nº 06

Technical Specifications

Specification	Detail
Class	Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Bottled-in-Bond
Release	The first release in the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. collection; one-time only
Proof	100
ABV	50%
Distilled	2002
Age	Reported between eight and ten years depending on source — see the Collector Note. Buffalo Trace's own figure is not in circulation.
Process	Mash left to sour naturally over several days before fermentation, reconstructed from distillery retirees' recollections of Taylor's late-1800s technique
Mash bill	Not disclosed. Buffalo Trace does not publish mash bills for its brands.
Presentation	Signature cylindrical tube with hand-dipped wax seal
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

Did E.H. Taylor invent the sour mash process?

No, and retail copy for this bottle sometimes says otherwise. The sour mash method is credited to James C. Crow, a Scottish-born chemist and physician who perfected it in Kentucky in the decades before Taylor bought the O.F.C. Distillery in 1869. What this release reconstructs is a specific variant associated with Taylor — allowing the mash to sour naturally over several days before fermentation, rather than the setback method used across the industry today.

How old is Colonel E.H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash?

Sources disagree. The 2002 distillation date is consistent everywhere, but published bottling years split between 2011 and 2012, giving ages of roughly nine or roughly ten years, and at least one retailer lists eight years while describing the bottle as just under nine in the same description. No Buffalo Trace figure is in general circulation. Treat any single number you see as unverified and check the label.

What is old fashioned sour mash?

It refers to letting the mash sour naturally over a period of days before fermentation, which lowers its pH without adding spent mash from a previous run. Modern sour mashing achieves the same end quickly by adding setback, and effectively all bourbon is made that way, so the distinction here is method rather than category. Buffalo Trace reconstructed the older approach from the recollections of distillery retirees describing how it was done in Taylor's era.

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E.H. Taylor, Jr.

The Elemental Distinction

How It Was Made