About Blanton's
Blanton’s is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey first released in 1984 at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. It was introduced by Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee, who named it after Colonel Albert B. Blanton, a former distillery president. Blanton’s is recognised as the world’s first commercially released single-barrel bourbon, a concept that set it apart at launch and helped define a new premium category.
Single Barrel Bourbon started with Blanton’s in 1984. Nearing retirement, Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee was tasked with creating a bourbon of exceptionally high quality. With careful reflection, he recalled the earlier days of his career in the late 1940s when he worked under Colonel Albert B. Blanton. Colonel Blanton was the president of the distillery until 1952. Mr. Lee remembered that when Colonel Blanton would entertain dignitaries and other important guests he would handpick “honey barrels” from the center cut of Warehouse H and have that bourbon bottled one barrel at a time. As a tribute to Colonel Blanton’s old tradition, Elmer T. Lee decided to name this new bourbon “Blanton’s Single Barrel”.
Elmer T. Lee introduced the world to Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon a year before he retired. In doing so, he revolutionized the industry by creating the “super premium” category of bourbon with the world’s first single barrel bourbon. This idea was somewhat radical at the time because it challenged the identity of what most folks thought bourbon to be. Today, most distilleries offer one or more single barrel bottlings, but Blanton’s was the first, and we still believe the finest, single barrel on the market.
The horse and jockey atop the bottle stoppers are now a recognized trademark of Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. The rich heritage and tradition of horses in Kentucky parallel that of bourbon. This is our way of paying homage to this Kentucky heritage. Beginning in 1999 a collector's set of eight different stoppers was produced. The set features a horse and jockey in different strides and poses resembling the stages of a horse race, from beginning to end. Each stopper is marked with a single letter that spells Blanton's when the set has been completed. The final stopper, marked by “S” always finishes the race in victory!
