Charred oak | Molasses | Leather | Cocoa powder | Merlot

Cold brew coffee | Black cherry | Cinnamon stick | Black pepper

Dry oak | Aged leather | Vanilla extract | Dark brown sugar | Mixed dark berries

With just about every company offering a barrel proof bourbon nowadays, it's harder and harder for one to stand out. Given that Stagg is a Buffalo Trace product, it has a brand advantage, but after so many releases at this point (28, including this one), the differences between batches are standing out less and less. To Buffalo Trace’s credit, Stagg releases tend to always hit a high quality bar, and if you can purchase them at or near SRP, it's a no-brainer purchase.

Stagg Batch 25B once again features many of the brand’s typical flavor notes: molasses, barrel char, chocolate, vanilla, and leather. Some batches put their fruit notes front and center, or at least on par with the aforementioned flavor notes. But for Batch 25B, those fruit notes are relegated to the back of the line. Though it doesn’t detract from the overall sip, it's a little bit more straightforward this time out. With such high consistency among batches, you almost have to go looking for overt negatives. Regardless, Stagg continues to be a great barrel proof bourbon batch after batch, and if you can find it at the right price, it continues to be an easy recommendation.