GEORGE T. STAGG
George T. Stagg is the boldest, oldest bourbon in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection — uncut, unfiltered, and bottled at barrel proof after no less than fifteen years in new charred oak. Released once a year each fall, every bottling is a vintage, with the proof and profile shifting from year to year. It's named for the 19th-century distiller who built the house now known as Buffalo Trace, and it's among the most allocated American bourbons made. This page gathers the George T. Stagg releases in the vault.
- The oldest expression of Buffalo Trace's low-rye Mash Bill #1 — the recipe behind Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare and E.H. Taylor Small Batch.
- Aged no less than 15 years in new charred oak.
- Uncut and unfiltered — bottled straight from the barrel, no water added, no chill filtration.
- Released once a year, each fall, as part of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.
- Every release is a vintage — proof and profile vary year to year (often above 130 proof; the 2025 is 142.8 proof / 71.4% ABV).
- Named for George T. Stagg, the 19th-century salesman-turned-distiller who built the distillery now called Buffalo Trace.
George T. Stagg was born in 1835 in Garrard County, Kentucky. After serving as a captain in the Civil War, he became a whiskey salesman in St. Louis — and, when a downturn left E.H. Taylor Jr. short of funds, Stagg had the means to back him. He later bought Taylor's O.F.C. Distillery outright; the company became George T. Stagg & Co., the distillery was renamed George T. Stagg in 1904, and in 1999 it took the name it carries today: Buffalo Trace. The bourbon honors the businessman who kept the distillery alive.
George T. Stagg goes into the bottle exactly as it leaves the barrel — full strength, nothing added, nothing filtered out — after more than fifteen years in the warehouse. The result is dense and powerful: toffee and dark chocolate, vanilla and molasses, dark fruit, tobacco and oak. Because it's a vintage release, each year drinks a little differently. Buffalo Trace's bar is high enough that in 2021 it skipped George T. Stagg entirely, judging that year's barrels short of the standard.
The Releases
George T. Stagg is an annual vintage — we link each year as it reaches the vault:
| George T. Stagg 2025 | Antique Collection · 15 years 4 months · 142.8 proof · uncut & unfiltered |
Earlier vintages (released annually since 2002, excluding 2021) appear here as they reach the vault. See the younger, more frequent Stagg barrel-proof batches, the rest of the Antique Collection, and the wider Buffalo Trace distillery range.
Collector Note
George T. Stagg sits among the most chased American bourbons released each year. As an allocated Antique Collection bottling, it's hard to find at its retail price and trades well above it on the secondary market. Because every release is a vintage — dated, with its own proof and age — collectors track specific years, and the skipped 2021 only sharpened the demand for those that follow. Year, proof, fill level and bottle condition all carry weight.
Production & the Antique Collection
George T. Stagg is distilled at Buffalo Trace from the low-rye Mash Bill #1 and matured no less than fifteen years in new charred oak before being bottled uncut and unfiltered at barrel proof. It anchors the annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, released each fall alongside William Larue Weller, Eagle Rare 17 Year, the Sazerac 18 Year Rye and the Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye. Each George T. Stagg is a vintage: the exact age and proof are set by that year's barrels and are documented, and verified, on each release's product page.
Authentication & Vault Preservation
Every George T. Stagg bottle sold through Midnight Whiskey is sourced as an authorized, authentic retailer, vault-stored and insured, shipped with protective handling and age-verified 21-and-over signature on delivery, and authenticated by our concierge before it ships. For the details, see how every bottle is verified before it ships, the vault, storage and concierge, and the standards behind our sourcing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is George T. Stagg?
George T. Stagg is the ultra-aged, uncut and unfiltered barrel-proof bourbon in the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Aged no less than fifteen years in new charred oak and bottled straight from the barrel with no water added, it's one of the most allocated American bourbons, released once a year each fall. Each release is a vintage — the proof and profile shift year to year — and it's made from Buffalo Trace's low-rye Mash Bill #1, the recipe behind Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare and E.H. Taylor Small Batch.
How is George T. Stagg different from Stagg (formerly Stagg Jr.)?
They're siblings from the same distillery and the same mash bill, at different ages. George T. Stagg is the older one — aged over fifteen years, released once a year in the Antique Collection. Stagg, introduced in 2013 as Stagg Jr. and renamed in 2022, is younger (around eight years) and released in several batches a year. Both are uncut, unfiltered and bottled at barrel proof; George T. Stagg is the older, higher-proof and far less frequently released of the two.
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