Elmer T Lee 100 Tribute Single Barrel

About the Elmer T Lee 100 Tribute Single Barrel

Elmer T Lee 100 Tribute Single Barrel is a Kentucky straight bourbon whisky, bottled at 50% ABV. Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort released it in August 2019 as a one-time run. Every bottle is drawn from a single barrel rather than a large batch. It shares the age and mash bill of the standard bottling. Only the bottling strength changes, and it lands at 100 proof. The name belongs to a man, not a place. Elmer T Lee was born on a Kentucky tobacco farm on 5 August 1919. He flew as a radar bombardier on B-29s during the Second World War. He joined the Frankfort distillery in 1949 and later ran it as general manager. In 1984 he created Blanton's, the world's first single barrel bourbon. The 100 proof marks what would have been his hundredth birthday. Vanilla and caramel lead the aroma, sweet and easy to read. Toffee sits behind them, thick and unhurried. Then the whisky turns brighter than the smell suggests. Fresh fruit arrives, and lemon and lime cut clean through the sweetness. Spice builds from there, with nutmeg out in front. That nutmeg carries a long way after the swallow. Lime and vanilla linger underneath, held steady by the extra strength. Elmer T Lee 100 Tribute Single Barrel is not a new recipe. It is the standard Elmer T Lee bourbon, raised to match a birthday. Buffalo Trace priced it at $100 and released it once, in 2019. Money from the sales went to Frankfort VFW Post 4075, where Lee had been a member. Buy it for the story and the strength, not for a different mash bill.