So in the past I’ve done a feature called Whiskey King of the Hill where one bottle reigns as champ until dethroned by a new contender.  It was cumbersome, if I’m honest.  Moving forward I’ll continue doing side-by-side battles like the previous Elijah Craig “B Battle”.

So for this battle I’ll be comparing a release that has been held in extremely high regard with a brand new release in the same family.  One thing worth nothing, here, is that I’ve reviewed both of these and scored them both a B+.  Let’s take a quick look now at the Buffalo Trace Distillery website to see what they say about the younger George T. Stagg product:

George T. Stagg built the most dominant American distillery of the 19th century, during a time known as the Gilded Age of Bourbon. Uncut and unfiltered, this robust bourbon whiskey ages for nearly a decade and boasts the bold character that is reminiscent of the man himself.

Buffalo Trace Distillery

So the difference in proof is minor between these two with Batch 12 clocking in at 132.2 and Batch 15 tipping the scales at 131.1.  This is a non age-stated and unfiltered Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey that is understood to be around ten years old.

I suppose this one won’t be wildly surprising; however, I’d urge anyone who likes a darker (or less fruit-forward) pour to dig this one up.  It’s really nice and while between the two batches I am choosing Batch 12 as my winner for this tasting, I could totally see this going differently on another evening.  The rich and complex flavors of each batch really showcase this brand extension and it’s constant evolution.  If you’ve somehow been ignoring Stagg Jr. because you disliked the earlier batches…thank you, that’ll leave a bit more of these batches on the shelf for the rest of us!

Our grading system: As mentioned in our About Us page, we’re excited to share bourbon with our friends, family, and readers. There are enough critics, cynics, and curmudgeons in the whiskey world as it is, so our goal is to foster the bourbon community in a positive way by bringing fun and entertaining content whenever possible–as such–we decided that applying precise scores to whiskey was simply too serious for us (and didn’t accurately showcase variability in taste from day to day). We use a simple grade school system to apply a grade to the whiskeys we review because we feel it is indicative of the whiskey’s grade for us on that particular day. A grade of a “B” today may very well be a “B+” or even a “B-” on another day, so rather than focusing on a precise score today that may not stand the test of time, we are just sharing our overall grade of that pour for that one tasting. Pour a bit and enjoy, friends, these are the good old days of whiskey!