This whiskey is distilled meticulously from a high-quality grain platform, utilizing copper column distillation setups at DSP-KY-113 in Frankfort, Kentucky. The specific barrels chosen for the 2016 vatting run were matured for a full eighteen years on the temperate second floor of Warehouse K. Brought slowly down to its target 90 proof line using pure limestone spring water before bottling, it undergoes a dedicated chill-filtration loop to maximize clarity and liquid stability under the global brand parameters managed by the Sazerac Company.

Every bottle handled by Midnight Whiskey is procured strictly through authorized, verified allocation channels and passes rigorous physical seal and label inspection points before being logged into inventory. Shipments are handled via specialized, glass-rated container packaging and absolute age-verification checks; an adult signature (21+) is strictly mandatory upon delivery. Review our complete protocols via the bottle-by-bottle authentication, Vault storage and white-glove delivery, and the provenance standards we follow.

What is the Sazerac 18 Year in the 2016 Antique Collection?

The 2016 Sazerac 18 is the aged straight rye of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection—18 years old, bottled at 90 proof (45% ABV) and chill filtered. The 2016 release was drawn from barrels filled in April 1998. It is the proofed-down, refined rye of the collection, the direct counterpart to the barrel-proof Thomas H. Handy expression.

What changed for Sazerac 18 in 2016?

2016 was the first year Sazerac 18 was drawn directly from barrels aged 18 years, rather than from the stainless-steel tank that had supplied recent editions. Earlier releases came from whiskey that had been moved to steel in 2003 to stop further aging; that tank stock ended with the 2015 release. From 2016 onward, the whiskey comes straight from barrels held for 18 years, which gives this vintage a somewhat bolder, woodsmoke profile managed under the Sazerac Company parent framework.