On January 15, Buffalo Hint formally introduced the second launch of its uncommon Prohibition Assortment, a set of American whiskeys commemorating spirits legally produced and offered throughout American Prohibition. The Prohibition Assortment had its inaugural launch in 2023 and featured 5 whiskeys bottled below model names tracing their historical past again to Prohibition-era American spirits.
(Learn our in-depth evaluation of the 2023 Buffalo Hint Prohibition Assortment.)
This second Prohibition Assortment once more options 5 whiskeys, offered as a set and paying homage to manufacturers relationship again greater than a century. The total assortment and fashionable iterations of the bottlings are as follows. (Word: no particular age statements are given for the whiskeys.)
- Mirror Brook, a 100-proof, bottled-in-bond mix of Kentucky straight whiskeys
- Very Oldest Procurable (V.O.P.), 135-proof, barrel-strength Kentucky straight bourbon
- Anderson’s Belle, a 100-proof, bottled-in-bond wheated bourbon
- Outdated Customary Mountain Corn, a 110-proof Kentucky straight corn whiskey
- Silver Marriage ceremony Rye Whiskey, a 125-proof Kentucky straight rye whiskey
There aren’t any repeat model names from the 2023 assortment. Buffalo Hint supplies extra data on the origins and backstory behind the specifics model through a Prohibition Assortment portal on its web site.
Throughout Prohibition, iterations of all 5 manufacturers had been produced at Buffalo Hint, which was then below the management of firm Albert B. Blanton and often known as the George T. Stagg Distillery. The distillery was certainly one of simply six in the USA licensed to bottle medicinal whiskey between 1920 and 1933.
“Because the oldest repeatedly working distillery in America, Buffalo Hint Distillery carries a legacy constructed by pioneers like Albert B. Blanton, who guided it via Prohibition,” stated Buffalo Hint grasp distiller Harlen Wheatley, quoted in a model press launch. “The Prohibition Assortment honors that historical past whereas embodying our long-lasting dedication to crafting distinctive whiskey.”
In accordance with Buffalo Hint, Prohibition Assortment #2 will probably be distributed as a set “in restricted portions” to retailers, bars, and eating places beginning in January 2025. The set contains 5 375-milliliter bottles and carries a instructed retail value of $999.99.
The gathering comes with a customized wood show case displaying photographs of the Prohibition-era distillery. All 5 bottles include bespoke cardboard cartons that includes cutouts harking back to prescriptions for medicinal whiskey. On the retail degree, particular person bottles are usually not out there for buy.
If the 2023 assortment was any indication, this yr’s set of 5 is prone to promote for considerably above the MSRP in lots of markets. At a particular launch occasion honoring the gathering earlier this week, Wheatley made mild of the secondary markup this and different limited-edition Buffalo Hint merchandise usually command. He was then fast to remind attendees that is one thing the Sazerac-owned distillery — which has invested lots of of hundreds of thousands towards manufacturing and provide expansions — has little management over.
Prohibition Assortment #2 additionally introduces a brand new collaboration to the lineup. Together with the discharge, Buffalo Hint partnered with Scandinavian Tobacco Group to create a limited-edition set of 5 cigars designed to pair with the person whiskeys. Simply 750 cigar units will probably be offered on-line through Cigora and distributor Meier and Dutch beginning Jan. 15.
Buffalo Hint Prohibition Assortment 2025 Tasting Notes
Whereas Buffalo Hint isn’t releasing evaluation samples for this yr’s assortment, we had been in a position to briefly style all 5 whiskeys at an occasion earlier this month. Standouts from the gathering included the 100-proof Anderson’s Belle wheated bourbon and the 125-proof Silver Marriage ceremony Rye.
Like plenty of Buffalo Hint’s wheated bourbons, Anderson’s Belle brings each basic caramel sweetness and vanilla bean, along with mild fruit parts and a delicate cherry throughline. At 100 proof, it’s a quintessentially straightforward sipper that might pair properly with savory meals but additionally have the ability to maintain its personal in opposition to a dessert course.
Silver Marriage ceremony Rye was a crowd favourite and a comparatively uncommon probability to strive a Buffalo Hint’s rye at a excessive proof level. Beginning on the nostril, it evokes each daring rye spice and a powerful natural character, the latter noticeably extra pronounced than most different Buffalo Hint rye. It punches via properly at 125 proof however by no means leans too onerous into ethanol, permitting tannic oak and leather-based to develop alongside candy mint. Of the 5 expressions, Silver Marriage ceremony boasts the longest and most satisfying end.
Taste-wise, the 110-proof Outdated Customary Mountain Corn isn’t fairly in the identical tier as Anderson’s Belle and Silver Marriage ceremony. However it holds up as greater than a enjoyable curiosity, the nostril sharing an almond extract and treacle sweetness character much like some extremely aged Canadian blends. On the palate, tiny pops of closely cooked fruit come via amid a powerful base of charred corn pudding. Through the tasting, Harlen Wheatley claimed Buffalo Hint has a few of Kentucky’s oldest corn whiskey amongst its warehouse shares — time will inform if we see any of that whiskey put to work in broader distribution.
