The reverence that whiskey fans give to certain barrels is a funny thing. Take the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection , the annual series of bourbons and rye whiskeys that comes out every fall, which immediately skyrockets in value.
Yes, these are often fantastic—this year’s Sazerac 18 was a standout for me, a deep and complex rye whiskey that I could sip all day. But one could argue that the barrels in which the liquid are pretty much just like any other barrels, besides having been used to mature some really good whiskey.
Of course, the counterpoint would be that the quality of the whiskey aging in those barrels really affects the flavor of any spirit that is finished in them. One could also argue that it’s more about name recognition and branding, and the effect that has on consumers cannot be understated.
That’s why other spirits owned by Buffalo Trace parent company Sazerac are sometimes aged in these barrels. Corazon Tequila’s Expresiones del Corazón is a good example, a series of añejo tequilas that were aged in BTAC barrels, and the results are indisputably excellent.