George T. Stagg 2020 Review
GTS 2019 was the first BTAC I ever tasted, and it was love at first sip. Every variant - every GTS or Stagg Jr. release I’ve had since has been compared to it. This isn’t about being subtle - GTS is raw bourbon power at its finest, a blast of bourbon character that just can’t be duplicated. The 2020 release somehow is even better.
George T. Stagg 2020 Bourbon: Specs
Classification: American Bourbon
Origin: Buffalo Trace Distillery
Mashbill: Buffalo Trace Mashbill 1
Age: 15Y 4M
Proof: 130.4 (65.2% ABV)
George T. Stagg 2020 Price: $99 (MSRP)
George T. Stagg 2020 Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Dark amber maple syrup. Medium rims and slow droplet syrupy legs.
Nose: Raw bourbon power - smack-your-mama fantastic. Tons of vanilla and baked goods. Nice heat - definitely powerful, but not obliterating the other flavors at all. Charred barrel and lots of rye spice. Orchard fruits and stone fruits open up with a little air, but I wouldn’t quite call this fruity. Complex, yes.
Palate: Perfect. Spicy, hot, vanilla tingle coats my entire mouth, carrying caramel sauce and more vanilla variants. I can’t find a fault on this. Custard, cinnamon, everything a bourbon should be. Dark red fruits develop after the initial singe, especially towards the front palate, while semisweet chocolate develops on the back. The meeting on the mid-palate is a thing of beauty. Mouthfeel is tingly from the heat, oily, creamy, completely coating, medium-to-heavy-bodied, viscous without being syrupy. Evolves to incorporate dark caramelized fruit and semisweet chocolate as the mouthfeel intensifies rather than fades.
Finish: Medium-length, detracts nothing from the incredible palate.
Overall: This is one of the best bourbons (or whiskies, period) I have ever tried. This ranks as one of my favorite GTS releases of all time, easily.
Final Rating: 10.0
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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