EH Taylor Barrel Proof Batch 6, 128.1

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Batch 6, 128.1 Proof

Price

$999.95

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

Age: NAS (Estimated 8–10 Years) | Region: Frankfort, Kentucky, USA | Proof: 128.1

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Vault-to-door shipping

Adult signature (21+) at delivery

128.1

Proof

64.05%

ABV

None

Age

2017

Year

750 mL

Format

L17

Code

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Barrel Proof Batch 6 is the 2017 release at 128.1 proof, 64.05% ABV, uncut and unfiltered. It closed the line's low era — 2015, 2016 and 2017 all came in under 128.2, and every release from 2018 to 2020 came in above 129.2. It also shipped in the busiest year the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. name has had, and was comprehensively overshadowed by it.

Nº 01

The Elemental Distinction

128.1 proof, 64.05% ABV. Unique in the line; no other release carries it.

The last of three consecutive years below 128.2. The next three all cleared 129.2.

A 1.2-proof gap separates the 2015–2017 releases from the 2018–2020 ones, with this batch on the low side of it.

Released in 2017 — the year Four Grain debuted and went on to be named World Whiskey of the Year.

The barrel proof release that year got almost none of the attention the brand was receiving.

Identifiable from the proof alone, without reference to the laser code.

Nº 02

Barrel Proof, Explained

Barrel Proof Batch 6

Identification on this line depends on a mark that is not part of the label. Buffalo Trace etches a laser code into the glass itself — the letter L followed by the two-digit bottling year, so L17 for this release — and because it is burned into the bottle rather than printed on paper it survives label damage, soaking and removal. That matters more here than on most whiskeys, because Colonel E.H. Taylor labels carry no batch numeral at all and preserve a nineteenth-century design that gives no other year marker. Where a release has a unique proof, as this one does, the code is a confirmation. Where three releases share 127.3, it is the only thing standing between a buyer and a misidentified bottle.

Nº 03

The Identifiers

What separates this release

Strength

Barrel proof

Uncut, not proofed down

Filtration

Non-chill filtered

Proof shared with

No other release

128.1 is unique in the line.

Batch numeral on label

None

Colonel E.H. Taylor labels carry no batch number.

Nº 04

Sensory Profile & Strategy

Distiller notes & position

Sensory Profile

Where it sits: 64.05% is the top of the line's low era and just under the floor of everything that followed for three years. Close enough to the 2016 release to be hard to separate on strength, far enough from 2018 to read differently.
Why the informal record is thin: Buffalo Trace published no note for this release, and unlike 2015 no enthusiast consensus formed around it. In 2017 the conversation about this brand was about something else entirely.
What is documented: 128.1 proof, a 2017 bottling, hand-selected barrels, no water added, no chill filtration.

Strategic Position

2017 was the year the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. name broke out. Four Grain debuted that April on a mash bill no other Buffalo Trace bourbon used, and Jim Murray named it World Whiskey of the Year in the Whisky Bible published months later. It sold out globally. The barrel proof release came out the same year, at 128.1 proof, and effectively nobody wrote about it — which is why a batch that closed a distinct three-year era in the line has no story attached to it in the usual places. The era is visible in the numbers regardless: this is the last release under 128.2 before three consecutive years above 129.2. It sits in the full span of barrel-proof years, alongside the four-grain release from the same year.

Nº 05

Collector Note & Index

Vault provenance

→

Collector Note

Being overshadowed in its own year has a consequence worth understanding. Bottles that generate discussion get held; bottles that do not get drunk. The 2017 barrel proof release shipped into a market whose attention was entirely on Four Grain, and a decade on the practical effect is that surviving bottles are scarcer than the release size would suggest while carrying none of the premium attention creates. That is the most favourable position a collector can find — genuine scarcity without a reputation priced into it. Authentication is straightforward: 128.1 belongs to this release alone, so the proof on the face is sufficient and the L17 code merely confirms it.

→

How to Taste It

Pour it beside the Four Grain from the same year if you can. They are the two Colonel E.H. Taylor releases of 2017 and they were built on opposite principles — one bonded at exactly 100 proof on a four-grain mash bill the distillery publicised in detail, the other bottled at whatever the barrels held on an undisclosed recipe nobody has ever confirmed. Same brand, same distillery, same twelve months, and almost no shared specification. That comparison is available to very few years in this range and it is more interesting than anything either bottle does alone.

Collector IndexMW VAULT

Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Class: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Batch: Batch 6
Release year: 2017
Proof: 128.1
ABV: 64.05%
Age statement: None

Nº 06

Technical Specifications

Specification	Detail
Class	Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Batch	Batch 6
Release year	2017
Proof	128.1
ABV	64.05%
Strength	Barrel proof — uncut, not proofed down
Filtration	Non-chill filtered
Laser code	L17
Proof shared with	No other release. 128.1 is unique in the line.
Batch numeral on label	None. Colonel E.H. Taylor labels carry no batch number.
Age statement	None. Buffalo Trace publishes no age for this line.
Mash bill	Not disclosed. Buffalo Trace does not publish mash bills for its brands.
Region	Kentucky
Distillery	Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky
Brand owner	Sazerac Company
Format	750 mL

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 proof is E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof Batch 6?

128.1 proof, or 64.05% ABV, bottled uncut and unfiltered. No other release in the line carries that figure, so the proof printed on the face identifies it without needing the laser code.

What else did Colonel E.H. Taylor release in 2017?

Four Grain, which debuted that April as the ninth release in the collection. It was distilled in 2005, bottled at twelve years and 100 proof to Bottled-in-Bond standards, and sold out worldwide. The barrel proof release of the same year attracted comparatively little attention.

What does the L17 code on the bottle mean?

It identifies the bottling year. Buffalo Trace etches a laser code into the glass consisting of the letter L followed by two digits — L17 for 2017 — and because it is marked on the bottle rather than the label it survives damage or removal. Colonel E.H. Taylor labels carry no batch number, so on releases that share a proof figure the laser code is the only reliable identifier.

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E.H. Taylor, Jr.

The Elemental Distinction

Barrel Proof, Explained