Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel is a love letter in liquid form. Elmer T. Lee joined the Stagg Distillery — now Buffalo Trace — in 1949 after returning from World War II, rising to become Master Distiller and, in 1984, creating Blanton's, the world's first commercially marketed single barrel bourbon. He retired in 1985 but continued hand-selecting barrels for the bourbon that bears his name well into his nineties. He passed away in 2013, and the bottle remains a tribute to his palate and his patience.
Drawn from Buffalo Trace's high-rye Mash Bill #2, the same recipe behind Blanton's, Hancock's, and Rock Hill Farms, Elmer T. Lee is bottled at 90 proof (45% ABV). Each barrel is hand-selected in his honoured tradition, prized for elegance and balance rather than power.
The nose offers honey, vanilla, ripe orchard fruit, soft oak, and a gentle brush of rye spice — instantly inviting. The palate is the brand's signature: smooth, elegant, and beautifully balanced. Caramel and honey, baked apple, vanilla, soft baking spice, and a clean oak frame, with the high-rye mash bill humming quietly underneath. The finish is medium, warm, honeyed, with spice and oak settling gracefully into stillness.
Elmer T. Lee is the most graceful of Buffalo Trace's Mash Bill #2 single barrels — a bourbon that drinks like an old friend's handshake. Allocated, hunted, and worth every minute of the chase. Raise a glass to Elmer.
