Virtual Tasting · Wednesday 23 September
The Sazerac Rye vertical
Ninety proof to one hundred and twenty-nine point eight. One rye, five ways, in a single night.
- When 8:00pm AEST, Wednesday 23 September
- Where Live on Facebook and YouTube
- Pack Five 15mL pours, posted to you
- Price $89, or $75 for Wayfarers members
Virtual Tasting · Wednesday 23 September
The Sazerac Rye vertical
Ninety proof to one hundred and twenty-nine point eight. One rye, five ways, in a single night.
- When 8:00pm AEST, Wed 23 September
- Where Live on Facebook and YouTube
- Pack Five 15mL pours, posted to you
- Price $89, or $75 for Wayfarers members
Whisky Wayfarers Virtual Tasting Pack - Sazerac Rye - 23 September
Wayfarers pay $75.00 Save $14.00 on this bottle. Join the Wayfarers Already a Wayfarer? Sign in.
Virtual Tasting · Wednesday 23 September
One rye, five ways
A guided flight through the whole Sazerac Rye range in a single night. Same recipe, same distillery, poured low to high, from 90 proof through to barrel proof at 129.8. Streamed live and hosted by Ray and John.
In the pack · five 15mL samples
- Sazerac Rye · Kentucky straight rye · 45%, 90 proof
- Sazerac 18 Year Old, 2025 Release · Antique Collection · 45%, 90 proof
- Sazerac Rye 100 Proof, Barrel No. 20 · Wayfarers single barrel · 50%
- Sazerac Rye Full Proof · barrel entry proof · 62.5%, 125 proof
- Thomas H. Handy Sazerac, 2025 Release · Antique Collection · 64.9%, 129.8 proof
Two of those come out of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, released once a year and allocated worldwide. Australia sees a handful of bottles between every retailer in the country. We do have both, as a two bottle set at $2,000. This pack is $89 and holds 15mL of each, which is the cheaper way to find out whether the set is for you.
| When | Wednesday 23 September, 8:00pm AEST |
| Where | Streamed live on Facebook and YouTube |
| Hosts | Ray Daniel and John Jarvis |
| Price | $89, or $75 for Wayfarers members |
Wayfarers members pay $75. The discount applies itself at checkout, so log into your account before you order or you will be charged the full $89.
Full tasting notes, the pouring order and the stream links are further down this page.
The night
One rye, taken all the way up
Most tastings jump between distilleries. This one does not move at all. Every pour in the pack comes off the same rye recipe at Buffalo Trace, and the only things that change are the strength it is bottled at, the barrel it came from, and how long it sat there.
You open at 90 proof on the bottle that carries the New Orleans cocktail, then go straight to eighteen years in oak at exactly the same strength. From there it climbs: a single barrel at 100, Full Proof at 125, and the Antique Collection barrel proof release at 129.8.
Thirty millilitres, or two thousand
Sazerac 18 and Thomas H. Handy
Both come out of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, released once a year and allocated worldwide. Australia sees a handful of bottles between every retailer in the country, and most people who love rye will never pour either.
We do have both, as a two bottle set, and it is $2,000. This pack is $89 and holds 15mL of each. One of those is a decision. The other is finding out whether you want to make it.
- Date
- 23 SeptemberWednesday night
- Time
- 8:00pmAEST · 7:30pm ACST · 6:00pm AWST
- Stream
- FreeFacebook and YouTube
- Pack
- $89$75 for Wayfarers members
Wayfarers pay $75
Members get $14 off the pack. The discount applies itself at checkout, so log into your account before you order or you will be charged the full $89.
The line-up
Five pours, in this order
Your pack holds a 15mL sample of each. We work up the proof ladder first, then finish with the two from the Antique Collection.
45%
45%
50%
62.5%
64.9%
Pour two
Sazerac 18 Year Old
If there is one bottle on this list most people will never pour, it is this one. Distilled in the springs of 2006 and 2007 and left in Warehouses O, K and L for eighteen years and five months, by which point 77% of it had evaporated. What came out is bottled at a restrained 90 proof, because after that long in oak it does not need the help.
The Antique Collection is released once a year and allocated across the world. Australia gets a handful of bottles between every retailer in the country. You can buy this one from us, in a two bottle set with the Handy, and it is not cheap. Fifteen millilitres is the cheaper way to find out whether it is for you.
- Seasoned oak, bright rye spice, herbal lift and soft leather
- Layered spice and oak with earthy richness underneath
- Long and elegant, caraway seed, leather and mature oak
- Release Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, 2025
- Age 18 years, 5 months
- Strength 45%, 90 proof
Pour three · Single barrel
Sazerac Rye 100 Proof, Barrel No. 20
We tasted through five barrels of Sazerac Rye and Barrel No. 20 is the one that came home with us. Bottled at 100 proof in a full litre, and it is Chapter Four of Whisky Wayfarers.
It is never sold outside the membership and it never will be, so this 15mL pour is the only way to try it unless you join.
- Dry and peppery through the middle
- The weight to hold up to anything you do to it
- One barrel, so it will not be repeated
- Selection Whisky Wayfarers, Chapter Four
- Volume 1 litre
- Strength 50%, 100 proof
Pour five
Thomas H. Handy Sazerac
The wild one of the Antique Collection, and the reason the collection is not just a museum. Younger and far louder than the rest of it, distilled in the springs of 2018 and 2019 and bottled after six years and three months completely uncut and unfiltered at 129.8 proof.
It is the same rye you started the night on, with nothing taken out of it. It closes the night, and after four pours climbing towards it the jump still lands hard.
- Bold oak and rye spice lifted by baked apple and vanilla
- Powerful spice, charred oak and a thick oily mouthfeel
- Long and warming, oak, vanilla and drying spice
- Release Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, 2025
- Age 6 years, 3 months
- Strength 64.9%, 129.8 proof, no filtration
Pour one · Kentucky Straight Rye
Sazerac Rye
The bottle the cocktail is named after, and the baseline for everything that follows. A softer Kentucky-style rye rather than the aggressively herbal modern school, which is exactly why bartenders have never stopped reaching for it.
- Clove, vanilla, citrus peel and gentle baking spice
- Pepper, anise and caramel sweetness over a rich mouthfeel
- Drying spice, liquorice, vanilla and lingering oak
- Distillery Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Kentucky
- Volume 700ml
- Strength 45%, 90 proof
Pour four · Barrel entry proof
Sazerac Rye Full Proof
The newest thing Buffalo Trace has done to this rye, added to the range at the end of 2025 off the back of their expansion. Same recipe, same character, taken to 125 proof so none of it is diluted away.
- Rye spice, fresh dill and smoky oak
- Smooth sweetness up front, then floral and herbal notes
- Lightly peppery, with a late rye spice that lingers
- Distillery Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Kentucky
- Volume 750ml
- Strength 62.5%, 125 proof
How to pour it
Work up, then back down
Take them in the order above and your palate follows the proof rather than fights it. The 18 lands second on purpose. Eighteen years at 90 proof is the most delicate thing in the pack, and coming to it after Full Proof at 125 would flatten it.
- Have water beside you, especially for pours four and five
- A tumbler is fine, a Glencairn is better
- Fifteen millilitres is a decent nip, so do not rush the first one
Members first
Members hear first
When the Antique Collection lands with us it goes to Wayfarers members before it goes anywhere else, one bottle per person. By the time anyone else hears about it there is usually nothing left to hear about.
- First call on every allocated release we bring in
- A full size bottle each quarter, bottled for members only
- Early invitations to nights like this one
Your hosts
The two who chose the barrel
Ray Daniel
Co-founder of Oak & Origin and Whisky Wayfarers, and the one who finds the bottles. If it is rare and it landed in Australia, Ray has usually already chased it.
John Jarvis
Co-founder of Oak & Origin and Whisky Wayfarers, hosting from Hobart and keeping the conversation moving through all five pours.
How to watch
Pour at eight, we will do the rest
The tasting streams live and free on both Facebook and YouTube. No login, no link in an email you cannot find, no software to install. Open either page at 8:00pm AEST on Wednesday 23 September and we will be there.
Bring your questions. The comments are read out live and answered as we go.
Details
Before you join
Do I need a pack to watch?
No. The stream is free and public on both Facebook and YouTube. The pack is what lets you taste along with the hosts rather than take our word for it.
When will my pack arrive?
Packs are posted well ahead of the night so they land before 23 September. If yours has not turned up two days out, email us and we will chase it.
Can I buy the Sazerac 18 or the Thomas H. Handy?
Not as singles, but we are offering the two of them together as a Buffalo Trace Antique Collection two bottle set. It is a short run and Wayfarers members pay less for it. If you would rather taste before you commit to a bottle, that is what this pack is for.
What if I cannot make it on the night?
The stream stays up on both platforms afterwards, so you can pour your pack whenever suits and watch it back. You will miss having your questions answered live, which is the best part of it.
Why is the same whiskey in the pack more than once?
Because that is the point of a vertical. Same rye recipe, same distillery, but bottled at 90, 100 and 125 proof, then again at eighteen years and at barrel proof. Tasting them side by side is the only way to hear what the strength and the years are actually doing.
Is there an age requirement?
You must be 18 or over to order a pack, and someone 18 or over must be home to sign for the delivery.
Need a hand?
Questions about the night, your pack or your delivery. Reach us on socials or send an email.
Chapter Four is Barrel No. 20, the single barrel you are pouring second tonight, in a full litre and never sold outside the membership.
Members also get first call on every allocated American whiskey we bring into Australia, the Antique Collection included.
Join the Wayfarers$200 a quarter. We only take as many members as we have bottles for.