Buffalo Trace Just Dropped a Pair of New Bourbons

(Photo: Buffalo Trace)

Buffalo Trace Distillery is expanding two of its longest-running whiskey experiments with new releases this spring: Single Oak Rye Bourbon and Low Entry Proof Wheated Bourbon Whiskey.

The launches mark a continuation of the distillery’s Single Oak Project and its Experimental Collection, both designed to study how specific variables affect bourbon flavor.

The Single Oak Project began in 1999 as a large-scale experiment using 192 barrels made from different sections of 96 oak trees. Each barrel differed across variables such as mashbill, entry proof, wood grain, seasoning, char level and warehouse conditions. Barrel #80 was voted the best expression by consumers in 2011.

That barrel now serves as the blueprint for the first release in a new Single Oak brand, which Buffalo Trace says will become a “permanent, continuously-released” brand. The inaugural bottling recreates the mashbill and aging conditions of Barrel #80, offering a rye-based bourbon profile shaped by those original variables.

“Experimentation has always been at the core of what we do at Buffalo Trace Distillery,” Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley said in a news release. “These releases represent years of patience, curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to learning. From the Single Oak Project, where we studied every detail of oak to better understand maturation, to our exploration of entry proof in the latest Experimental Collection, each experiment helps us further our understanding of how individual variables shape flavor and push the boundaries of what bourbon can be. We’re excited for fans to experience the results.”

Single Oak Rye Bourbon will be released in 375-milliliter bottles at a suggested retail price of $74.99. Availability will be limited, with distribution through Sazerac’s network and the distillery gift shop beginning in April.

Alongside it, Buffalo Trace is introducing the 28th release in its Experimental Collection. The new Low Entry Proof Wheated Bourbon explores how filling barrels at a lower proof impacts aging and flavor development over time.

The whiskey entered the barrel at 105 proof, compared to Buffalo Trace’s typical 114 proof. The approach draws on historical practices, when lower entry proofs were more common before Prohibition. The legal maximum today is 125.

Unlike prior Experimental Collection releases typically bottled at 90 proof, this expression is bottled at 107 proof to better reflect its profile. It will be available in limited quantities at the distillery gift shop starting in April, priced at $46.99 for a 375-milliliter bottle.

Both releases reflect Buffalo Trace’s ongoing focus on isolating and testing individual variables in whiskey production, from barrel construction to entry proof, with the goal of refining how those factors shape the final product.