Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye Whiskey (2023 Release)

The release

The 2023 release from Buffalo Trace Distillery is the Antique Collection at its most composed. Where its stablemates trade on barrel proof and raw intensity, Sazerac 18 arrives at 90 proof and lets close to two decades in oak do the talking.

Australia saw very few bottles of the 2023 release at the time, and fewer still remain unopened. This is a rare chance to pour a back vintage alongside the current one and taste how the same rye moves from one year to the next.

Orange peel and aniseed

Seventy-four per cent of the original whiskey was lost to evaporation before bottling. What remains is deeply concentrated. The distillery's own notes for the 2023 bottling lead with dried orange peel, rye grain, clove and aniseed on the nose, then a bold blend of black pepper and vanilla carried on wave after wave of seasoned oak, before a finish of floral notes, honey and tobacco leaf that hangs around far longer than the proof would suggest.

It is the kind of whiskey that rewards a slow glass. The rye character is still there after eighteen years, but it has been softened and polished by the wood into something closer to an old Armagnac than a young, spicy rye.

In the glass

• NoseDried orange peel, rye grain, clove and aniseed
• PalateA bold blend of black pepper, vanilla and waves of oak
• FinishFloral notes followed by honey and tobacco leaf
• CharacterMature, restrained and quietly complex

Distillery details

• DistilleryBuffalo Trace Distillery
• DistilledAutumn 2004 & Spring 2005
• Age at bottling18 years, 5 months
• Proof90 proof
• FiltrationChill filtered
• Proof off still135 proof
• Barrel entry proof125 proof
• Barrel char#4 char
• WarehousesK, L & M, floors 2 and 3
• Evaporation loss74%