George T Stagg Bourbon Whiskey 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection

This 2025 release of George T. Stagg is a commanding, full-throttle bourbon experience that embodies power, age and depth. With a robust proof well above many standard bourbons, it delivers bold oak, dark-fruit and tobacco character — made for serious sipping and long-term collectors.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Produced by Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky, George T. Stagg is part of the Antique Collection, a highly allocated annual release of full-proof, barrel-strength bourbons. The 2025 release is aged for 15 years and 4 months, and bottled at 142.8 proof (71.4% ABV). It is uncut, unfiltered, and made from Buffalo Trace’s Mash Bill No. 1 (high-corn straight bourbon formula). These whiskeys are selected for exceptional quality barrels, matured in the distillery’s oldest warehouses and released in very limited quantities.

Critics Reviews

• Bourbon reviewer Phil Dwyer described this 2025 Stagg as “an uncut, unfiltered powerhouse – candy-corn, brown sugar, hot honey and cherry cola on the nose; the palate travels through barrel char, cherry-berry, leather, old wood and dark chocolate with a seemingly endless finish.”

• Tasting analysis by InsideHook called it “one of the strongest Stagg releases ever, bold proof notwithstanding; flavours of tobacco, leather, vanilla and caramel remain sharply defined even at 142.8 proof.”

• Spirits coverage at TastingTable noted that while the alcohol is intense, the expression “tastes sugar-sweet and generous rather than purely fiery — brown sugar and vanilla aromas lead toward a heavily oak-influenced palate that demands contemplation.”

Tasting Profile

• Nose: Rich amber to deep mahogany colour; aromas of brown sugar, hot honey, cherry-cola syrup, dark chocolate, and toasted oak with a whisper of leather and tobacco.

• Palate: Full-bodied and intense. Flavours of black-cherry compote, dark chocolate, rich caramel, strong oak char, tobacco leaf, and baking spice (clove, nutmeg) emerge as the high proof opens up.

• Finish: Long, bold and warming. Tobacco and oak tannin roll out over a continuing thread of cherry-cola and vanilla, with lingering char and a whisper of mint or eucalyptus in the backdrop.

Quick Overview