The bottle
Traveller Whiskey, $39.99
The back story
It’s the big Grammy Awards weekend. So here at Weekend Sip, that naturally has us thinking about the many artists and groups, from Jennifer Lopez to Lynyrd Skynyrd, with their own brand of booze.
Now, you can add another name to the list: Country star Chris Stapleton, who is up for three awards this year. Stapleton can claim plenty of past Grammy glory — he’s won eight awards to date, including one for Best Country Album for his breakthrough 2015 release, “Traveller.”
Traveller is appropriately the name for the whiskey he’s created in partnership with Buffalo Trace Distillery, one of the most revered bourbon makers in the business. We sampled its $10,000 Eagle Rare 25 bourbon not that long ago, in fact.
But Traveller is in a different category than that bottle — and not just because it sells for a mere $39.99. It’s not purely a bourbon, but what’s referred to as an American blended whiskey. That means it can contain a bit of anything and everything, including a mix of bourbon and grain neutral spirits. In the case of Traveller, the emphasis is on, well, whiskey. The Buffalo Trace team says it pulled whiskeys from the broader portfolio of Sazerac, its parent company and the outfit behind such well-regard labels as E.H. Taylor and Stagg.
Stapleton said he was deeply involved in the project every step of the way, including selecting the final blend from dozens of possible blends. At a recent press event in New York, he noted that he’s always been a fan of not just whiskey, but specifically Buffalo Trace whiskey (he was born in Lexington, Ky., not far from the distillery). “It didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting,” he said of his decision to join forces with the brand.
As far as the final product, Stapleton added that “I can’t speak in educated terms other than ‘I like it’ or ‘I don’t like it.’” Needless to say, he likes what he and Buffalo Trace have created.
What we think about it
American blended whiskey is not generally taken so seriously as a category — it’s more in the value-priced realm of drinking. But Traveller offers some real pedigree for a fairly affordable bottle. Granted, it’s an easy and somewhat sweet sipper, with notes of caramel, oak and toasted nuts. But it’s still a real whiskey, with just enough fullness and complexity to give it an edge.
How to enjoy it
This is fine sipping on its own — or enjoying what the Buffalo Trace team calls a Whiskey and You (as in Traveller over ice). For something with a little more flavor, try the Country & Western — Traveller with soda water, agave nectar and fresh lime juice.
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