Blantons Single Barrel Red Japanese 700ml

The red label means export: Blanton's Single Barrel Red is a Kentucky straight bourbon bottled for the Japanese market, drawn one barrel at a time from Warehouse H at Buffalo Trace Distillery. Stateside bottles arrive as reimports, which is why the "Takara" cream-and-red label reads differently from the domestic Original. Bottled at 93 proof from a high-rye mash bill, it leans into honey, caramel, vanilla and soft baking spice, and — this being single barrel bourbon — every barrel runs a little different. Japanese-edition bottles move quickly when they reach US shelves. Pour it neat next to the standard Original and settle which side of the Pacific got the better barrel.

How to drink Blanton's Single Barrel Red

Neat or with a single large cube is the move here — 93 proof has enough weight to carry water without falling apart, but doesn't need much. Save it for side-by-side tasting against the domestic Original rather than mixing it into a cocktail; that comparison is the whole point of owning this bottle.

Bourbon93 proof · Mash bill: Buffalo Trace Mash Bill #2 (high rye) · New charred American oak · Kentucky