Buffalo Trace Announces Second Prohibition Collection Release — And We Got an Early Taste
On January 15, Buffalo Trace officially announced the second release of its rare Prohibition Collection, a set of American whiskeys commemorating spirits legally produced and sold during American Prohibition. The Prohibition Collection had its inaugural release in 2023 and featured five whiskeys bottled under brand names tracing their history back to Prohibition-era American spirits.
(Read our in-depth review of the 2023 Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collection.)
This second Prohibition Collection again features five whiskeys, sold as a set and paying homage to brands dating back more than a century. The full collection and modern iterations of the bottlings are as follows. (Note: no specific age statements are given for the whiskeys.)
Mirror Brook, a 100-proof, bottled-in-bond blend 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
Old Fashioned Mountain Corn, a 110-proof Kentucky straight corn whiskey
Silver Wedding Rye Whiskey, a 125-proof Kentucky straight rye whiskey
There are no repeat brand names from the 2023 collection. Buffalo Trace provides more information on the origins and backstory behind the specifics brand via a Prohibition Collection portal on its website.
During Prohibition, iterations of all five brands were produced at Buffalo Trace, which was then under the leadership of company Albert B. Blanton and known as the George T. Stagg Distillery. The distillery was one of just six in the United States licensed to bottle medicinal whiskey between 1920 and 1933.
“As the oldest continuously operating distillery in America, Buffalo Trace Distillery carries a legacy built by pioneers like Albert B. Blanton, who guided it through Prohibition,” said Buffalo Trace master distiller Harlen Wheatley, quoted in a brand press release. “The Prohibition Collection honors that history while embodying our long-lasting commitment to crafting exceptional whiskey.”
According to Buffalo Trace, Prohibition Collection #2 will be distributed as a set “in limited quantities” to retailers, bars, and restaurants starting in January 2025. The set comprises five 375-milliliter bottles and carries a suggested retail price of $999.99.
The collection comes with a custom wooden display case displaying images of the Prohibition-era distillery. All five bottles come with bespoke cardboard cartons featuring cutouts reminiscent of prescriptions for medicinal whiskey. At the retail level, individual bottles are not available for purchase.
If the 2023 collection was any indication, this year’s set of five is likely to sell for significantly above the MSRP in many markets. At a special release event honoring the collection earlier this week, Wheatley made light of the secondary markup this and other limited-edition Buffalo Trace products often command. He was then quick to remind attendees this is something the Sazerac-owned distillery — which has invested hundreds of millions toward production and supply expansions — has little control over.
Prohibition Collection #2 also introduces a new collaboration to the lineup. In conjunction with the release, Buffalo Trace partnered with Scandinavian Tobacco Group to create a limited-edition set of five cigars designed to pair with the individual whiskeys. Just 750 cigar sets will be sold online via Cigora and distributor Meier and Dutch starting Jan. 15.
Buffalo Trace Prohibition Collection 2025 Tasting Notes
While Buffalo Trace is not releasing review samples for this year’s collection, we were able to briefly taste all five whiskeys at an event earlier this month. Standouts from the collection included the 100-proof Anderson’s Belle wheated bourbon and the 125-proof Silver Wedding Rye.
Like a number of Buffalo Trace’s wheated bourbons, Anderson’s Belle brings both classic caramel sweetness and vanilla bean, in addition to light fruit elements and a subtle cherry throughline. At 100 proof, it’s a quintessentially easy sipper that would pair well with savory foods but also be able to hold its own against a dessert course.
Silver Wedding Rye was a crowd favorite and a relatively rare chance to try a Buffalo Trace’s rye at a high proof point. Starting on the nose, it evokes both bold rye spice and a strong herbal character, the latter noticeably more pronounced than most other Buffalo Trace rye. It punches through well at 125 proof but never leans too hard into ethanol, allowing tannic oak and leather to develop alongside sweet mint. Of the five expressions, Silver Wedding boasts the longest and most satisfying finish.
Flavor-wise, the 110-proof Old Fashioned Mountain Corn isn’t quite in the same tier as Anderson’s Belle and Silver Wedding. But it holds up as more than a fun curiosity, the nose sharing an almond extract and treacle sweetness character similar to some highly aged Canadian blends. On the palate, tiny pops of heavily cooked fruit come through amid a strong base of charred corn pudding. During the tasting, Harlen Wheatley claimed Buffalo Trace has some of Kentucky’s oldest corn whiskey among its warehouse stocks — time will tell if we see any of that whiskey put to work in broader distribution.
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