BUFFALO TRACE WHISKEY PRICE SERIES

I’m getting clove and cinnamon, ribboned with caramel and raisin, mingling with charred oak and traces of chocolate. Regardless, the nose on this Old Charter Oak batch is distinctive and immediately engaging, with assertive notes of spice and lots of dark dried fruitiness. It’s kind of odd that this wasn’t a cask that previously was used to mature sherry, because it looks for all intents and purposes like a heavily sherried scotch that has really tinted itself with the fortified wine. Just looking at this bourbon in a glass, the ruddy amber color suggests a very intense interaction between the spirit and the barrel. So with that said, let’s get to tasting Spanish Oak Bourbon.

BUFFALO TRACE WHISKEY PRICE SERIES

The Old Charter Oak series intends to give a certain degree of novelty, and you have to acknowledge that it has delivered on that front. Suffice to say, few drinkers will ever have sampled a bourbon matured this way before I certainly haven’t. Those used sherry casks are then often used for the secondary maturation of scotch whisky, rum or increasingly for American whiskey, but this would be an entirely different use of the Spanish oak–not as reused oak that has matured sherry, but as a newly charred barrel. Sherry is of course the market one can’t help but think about here, as this oak species is heavily used in the aging of fortified wines in regions such as Spain and Portugal. We were curious how those flavors would impact the taste of whiskey, and we are very pleased with the result.” We specifically wanted to test Spanish Oak as part of this collection because of its connection to sherry, which is known to be a nuttier, fruitier spirit. Meaning drier, spicier notes and flavors like clove are imparted onto the liquid. Our Spanish Oak, on the other hand, has more eugenol. Resulting in bourbon with a softer, sweeter taste and notes of vanilla and caramel. American Oak has higher proportions of vanillin and whiskey lactone. “The whiskey extracts from the charred oak barrel exciting elements like eugenol, vanillin and whiskey lactone.

Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley describes the particular, unique character of Spanish oak as the following: As the brand puts it, “Harvested from the forests of northern Spain, the trees used in this year’s experiment were made into staves that were seasoned outdoors before becoming the aging vessels for this unique whiskey.” The fifth release in the Old Charter Oak series was bottled at 46% ABV (92 proof), with an MSRP of $70. This is non-age stated (but probably decently mature) bourbon from Buffalo Trace, matured entirely in newly charred barrels made from the species of Spanish oak known as Quercus Hispanica.

Its fifth is just hitting store shelves: Old Charter Oak Spanish Oak Bourbon. That’s a huge potential variation in flavors one can attain from wood aging, and this theory is at the heart of Buffalo Trace’s experimental Old Charter Oak series of whiskey releases, which has previously dabbled in four past releases: Mongolian Oak, Chinkapin Oak, Canadian Oak, and French Oak. But American and French oak are just the tip of the iceberg–there are more than 125 species of white oak on record, and despite the common misconception, any of them can actually be legally used to create newly charred barrels for the production of bourbon whiskey. Suffice to say, we mainly encounter a single species of American white oak (Quercus Alba) in the whiskey industry, although bourbon geeks with more experience will be familiar with at least a few, such as the French oak (several species) long used in wine and brandy production that has become a popular finishing barrel for American whiskeys as well. American whiskey geeks could be forgiven for thinking that there’s some magical, worldwide species of tree simply known as “the oak,” growing on every continent of the Earth.

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