Buffalo Trace’s Single Oak Project was not one bourbon. It was a set of 192 single-barrel bourbons built around a question: how much do the recipe, the barrel and the aging environment change the whiskey in the glass?
The original bottles were released between 2011 and 2015, and Barrel #80 emerged as the favorite. In April 2026, Buffalo Trace introduced a new bourbon modeled on that barrel. Understanding the difference between the experiment and its successor makes both stories more interesting.
At a glance
- The project began in 1999 with 96 oak trees, each divided into top and bottom sections to make 192 barrels.
- Buffalo Trace varied seven factors, including bourbon recipe, entry proof, stave seasoning, barrel char and warehouse type.
- The original bourbons aged eight years and were released in 16 rounds from 2011 through 2015.
- Barrel #80 was selected after thousands of consumer evaluations and a final tasting by whiskey writers.
- Single Oak Rye Bourbon, introduced in April 2026, follows #80’s specifications; it is not whiskey from the original barrel.
How the 192 barrels were built
The project started with trees selected in Missouri’s Ozarks. Each tree supplied wood for two barrels: one made from its upper section and one from its lower section. That gave Buffalo Trace a way to compare barrels made from different parts of the same tree, alongside barrels made from trees with different growth-ring densities. The distillery’s barrel index still lists the specifications for all 192.
The seven factors were bourbon recipe (rye or wheat as the flavoring grain), entry proof (105 or 125), stave seasoning (six or 12 months), wood grain size (tight, average or coarse), barrel char (number three or four), tree cut (top or bottom) and warehouse type (wooden rick floor or concrete floor). The variations were deliberate, but this was not 192 barrels of the same whiskey with only the oak changed.
That distinction matters when comparing bottles. A rye-recipe barrel and a wheated barrel may differ for reasons unrelated to their trees; entry proof and warehouse conditions can complicate the comparison further. Some barrels make more focused pairs: the index lists #79 and #80 with matching recorded specifications except for the top-versus-bottom tree cut.
Buffalo Trace bottled the original barrels individually rather than blending them into one expression. The numbered releases let drinkers look up a barrel’s production details, turning each bottle into a particular result from the project—not a sample of a uniform “Single Oak” flavor. The distillery’s 2015 account says all 192 original bourbons aged eight years.
What the votes did—and did not—show
Buffalo Trace reports that 5,645 people participated and submitted 5,086 whiskey evaluations across the original release. Barrel #80 ultimately won, although the choice was not simply an automatic ranking from the website: Whisky Magazine’s account describes whiskey writers tasting five consumer-selected finalists before settling on #80.
That result identifies a favorite within this project, not a universally best bourbon recipe. Participants chose what to taste and whether to submit an evaluation; the barrels were not replicated under every combination of conditions. One original barrel per specification also leaves room for ordinary barrel-to-barrel variation. These limits do not make the comparisons useless, but they do make sweeping claims about a single factor hard to justify.
The findings were more nuanced than the winning recipe alone suggests. Buffalo Trace reported that its highest-scoring aroma combination used a wheated recipe at 105 entry proof, while #80 used a rye recipe at 125. The distillery also cautioned that its findings pertained to its own whiskeys, not the industry as a whole. Reporting from the final selection noted that consumer flavor ratings varied widely and found no noticeable difference attributable to the two warehouse styles.
Those distinctions are worth keeping. A favorite barrel, an aroma preference and a claim about the effect of one production choice answer different questions. The project gives bourbon drinkers unusually specific information to compare, but it does not establish that bottom-half oak—or any other setting—will improve every bourbon.
Barrel #80 and the bourbon that followed
According to the original barrel record, #80 held rye-recipe bourbon entered at 125 proof. Its barrel used average-grain wood from the bottom half of a tree, staves seasoned for 12 months and a number-four char. It matured in the concrete-floor warehouse and was bottled at 90 proof. Here, “rye recipe” describes a bourbon made with rye as its flavoring grain; the release is not labeled rye whiskey.
Buffalo Trace announced Single Oak Rye Bourbon in April 2026 as the first release of what it calls a permanent, continuously released brand. The distillery says it recreated #80’s mash bill and barrel-aging conditions. That makes the new 375-milliliter bottling a continuation of the experiment’s chosen formula, not another bottle drawn from #80’s original single barrel. The announcement describes the original barrel’s eight years of aging and 90-proof bottling.
Buffalo Trace’s producer-provided notes for the 2026 release mention caramel, vanilla, baking spice, toasted oak and orchard fruit. Those are the distillery’s descriptions, not independently established flavors. In a 2026 independent tasting account, Drinkhacker’s Christopher Null likewise described a sweet profile, but noted that drinkers who favor much higher-proof whiskey might find it restrained. His comparison with the original relied partly on earlier notes and recollection, rather than a stated side-by-side tasting.
The most useful way to read Single Oak is as a record of choices and preferences. Its numbered barrels show how Buffalo Trace organized a far-reaching comparison; #80 shows which combination prevailed in that selection process. The 2026 release tests a different proposition: whether the distillery can make a continuing bourbon that reflects its chosen barrel’s specifications.