The 4-H’s of Blanton’s: History – Hype – Hate – Hypocrisy

If you are looking for the “H” bottle topper from Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon…good luck. If you do find it, then you truly have found a unicorn because it, obviously, doesn’t exist. However, I have somehow found four H’s in my Blanton’s experience and that’s what I’m sharing with you here. Hang around to the end and there might be a bonus “H” waiting for you there.

History

As everybody knows, Buffalo Trace Distillery owns Blanton’s.

No…that’s not correct.

OK. OK. Sazerac owns Buffalo Trace, so Sazerac owns Blanton’s.

No…that is not correct, either.

Actually, neither Sazerac nor Buffalo Trace owns Blanton’s or any of their “mash bill #2” offerings (Ancient Age, Rock Hill Farms, Elmer T. Lee, Hancock’s Reserve and, of course, Blanton’s).

A company called Age International was formed in 1983 and purchased the Ancient Age brand and the, then-named, George T. Stagg Distillery. In 1992, Age sold out to Takara Holdings (which is an intriguing story for another day). Takara immediately sold the distillery to Sazerac, but retained the brand trademarks (which included Blanton’s). Sazerac has sale and distribution rights for Blanton’s (and the other Mash Bill #2 brands) in the United States and has a contract with Takara to produce the Bourbon for those brands.

Shortly after Age bought the distillery, they authorized master distiller Elmer T. Lee to develop a new product that could take advantage of the growth of Bourbon in the Japanese market. Lee created Blanton’s, named in honor of his mentor Albert Bacon Blanton. In addition to having the tastiest middle name in all of Bourbon, Blanton was the long-time master distiller who guided the distillery through Prohibition and a major reconstruction in the 1930s.

Blanton’s was billed as “the original single barrel bourbon”. That claim is not exactly true, but as Bourbon legends go…we’ll call it close enough. Buffalo Trace says that all barrels for Blanton’s are stored in the center of Warehouse H. This is the only metal clad warehouse on the distillery property and was supposedly Albert Blanton’s favorite.

The lettered horse and jockey bottle toppers started in 1999. The toppers and the unique bottle shape made Blanton’s bottles one of the most iconic in Bourbon (along with Maker’s Mark and the inconceivably-discontinued Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit “tail feather” bottle).

The Blanton’s lineup includes the Original, which is the 93-proof expression we (sometimes) see in the United States. It was announced that Blanton’s Gold will be distributed in the United States this year. Previously, Gold (103 proof) was only available to international markets along with Straight from the Barrel and Special Reserve (green label, 80-proof). I would not bother asking Santa for a bottle of Blanton’s Gold for Christmas nor would I suggest calling your friendly neighborhood liquor store asking if they have it in stock. Two versions are available only in Japan: Black (80 proof) and Red (93 proof). There was also a 98-proof Silver that was for duty-free shops, but that has been discontinued. Weller must have been taking copious notes given all the different “color” expressions used by Blanton’s.

Hype

“It has charisma”. That is how Jeremy Schell described Blanton’s when we recently discussed it. Jeremy, noted Bourbon collector and host of the ABV Network’s “The Bourbon Show” podcast, added “at 93 proof it is very approachable and, prior to being allocated in 2013, it was very obtainable, too”.

Actually, up until about four years ago it was relatively easy to find in stores at retail (then, about $50). Today, there is an unbelievable frenzy around Blanton’s. Before social distancing mandates, lines of hundreds of people would form at the Buffalo Trace Distillery on the rumor that Blanton’s is on the gift shop shelves that day. When Westport Whiskey & Wine in Louisville announced via their app that their Blanton’s store pick was in, so many customers called the store that the phone system crashed. Regardless, all bottles from the pick were sold out in minutes. Ask your local liquor store manager what they hate about their job and “people calling in asking if they have Blanton’s” likely tops the list.

Blanton’s is exceptionally well marketed. The distinctive bottle shape, the collectible toppers, the bag it comes in and the inclusion of a dump date on the label all serve to intensify the love affair many Bourbon consumers have with Blanton’s. A regular bottle of Blanton’s will fetch at or near $100 on the secondary market. If you are looking for a private selection bottle, then that price rises to well over $150.

Jeremy mentions, “If you are going to see a bottle of Bourbon in a movie or a TV show, it is likely going to be a bottle of Maker’s Mark or a bottle of Blanton’s”. Blanton’s has shown up in John Wick, House of Cards and Justified just to name a few. For more thoughts from Jeremy, Steve Akley and Renee Howe on Blanton’s, you can follow this link to a recent episode of “The Bourbon Show”.

Hate

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. That is known by most people as “Newton’s Third Law of Motion”. In the Bourbon World’s social media, it is known as “The Blanton’s Vortex”.

A harmless post of a photo of a Blanton’s bottle with the comment “found my unicorn” will be met with the exact opposite reaction by someone telling the poster why Blanton’s is NOT a unicorn (unless it has the “H” topper, of course). The more jubilant the initial post, the more vitriolic the comments in response. This will result in a back and forth resembling Newton’s Cradle. Ultimately, this interaction will suck all the life and joy from Bourbon as if it were; you guessed it, a vortex.

While the hate towards Blanton’s and its infatuated fans typically goes too far, that doesn’t mean the haters don’t have a valid point or two. Get beyond the bottling, marketing and history of Blanton’s, what is typically inside the bottle is unremarkable Bourbon. While it is, as Jeremy says, “approachable” for those that are new to Bourbon, once you have tried other Bourbons (better Bourbons) that approachability makes it rather boring and lacking distinction. As a single barrel, there are, of course, inconsistencies to profile barrel to barrel. There are a few standout bottles to be found, especially among store picks. Sometimes a very good bottle will be found “off the shelf” (in this case “off the shelf” means “not a private selection barrel”, because you won’t find it at a reasonable price on a shelf). Most of the time, however, the Blanton’s is just bland (I call copyright on “B-L-A-N-D-O-N-S”).

In the seven years or so that I’ve been drinking Blanton’s I believe that the quality of the Bourbon has slipped over time. Jeremy agrees and goes on to say “there has definitely been a flavor drift with Blanton’s. This is especially noticeable if you taste Blanton’s produced prior to it being chill filtered in the mid-1990s. There is no comparison to what is being produced today”.

Hypocrisy

All that being said, I still buy Blanton’s. I don’t drink Blanton’s very often: maybe twice in 2020 and both of those times in preparation for this article. It is, however, a good bottle to have…at retail. And if I find it at retail or have access to a store pick, I will buy it. Because of the bottle and the topper and the hype, regardless of how ordinary the liquid is, it is a great gift Bourbon. Inevitably, around Christmas I’ll have non-Bourbon friends looking for a bottle of Blanton’s for a dad or a brother. It’s nice to be able to help them out and hook them up. Does that make me a “hypocrite” when it comes to Blanton’s? Maybe so, but if that were the only hypocrisy in my life, I’d be a much better human.

How to Fix It (bonus “H”)

I’ve called this meeting at Sazerac: “Mark and Harlen, thanks for having me today. Domo arigato Kakimoto-san, for flying in from Japan just for this.” (Effective use of the Japanese I learned from Styx.)

Then I start off: “So…here’s how you fellas can fix Blanton’s…”. I would be thrown out into the street like Axel Foley being ejected from Victor Maitland’s office in “Beverly Hills Cop”.

There really isn’t any motivation for Sazerac or Takara to make any drastic changes to what they are doing with Blanton’s. It’s an insanely popular brand that must be extremely lucrative financially for both Sazerac and Takara. Their decision to sell Blanton’s Gold in the US is rather meaningless unless it is a sign of more to come. I just can’t imagine there will be enough in distribution channels to be noticed by the majority of Bourbon drinkers. Nevertheless, there are four things I would change about Blanton’s if I could:

1. Standard proof: Change the standard proof of the “off the shelf” Blanton’s from 93 to 103. This would match the proof level of Gold, and Blanton’s at 103 is much more distinctive and flavorful than at 93. Also, every other expression of Mash Bill #2 is under-proofed (low of 88.9 to high of 100). Give us something with a little more power

2. Private selections: Allow options on the private selections to be proofed at 103 or straight from the barrel. This will make these prized picks more unique. I would also add a barreled date in addition to the dump date, essentially giving these private selections an age statement.

3. Non-chill filtered: Going back to Blanton’s being non-chill filtered (as the straight from the barrel is now) would be a welcome move. This would definitely add more flavor to the Bourbon and that is always a good thing.

4. Availability: Buffalo Trace is in the midst of a $1.2 billion (with a “b”) expansion. Can they not throw up another metal clad warehouse and use it for Blanton’s, too?

Like it or loathe it, Blanton’s popularity is undeniable. It is also not slowing down. That popularity may be difficult for the self-appointed Bourbon truthers and many others of us to understand, but that does nothing to faze the cult-like status of Blanton’s.