For forty years, bourbon drinkers have known the name Elmer T. Lee as a kind of shorthand for doing things the right way. Now, for the first time, Buffalo Trace Distillery is letting people taste that philosophy exactly as it comes out of the barrel, with nothing added and nothing taken away.
Image credit: Buffalo Trace Distillery
The Frankfort, Kentucky distillery has released the Elmer T. Lee 40th Anniversary Edition, a new expression built around a simple idea: skip the water, skip the filter, and let the whiskey speak for itself. It's the first time in the history of the Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel line that the bourbon has been bottled uncut and unfiltered, and it arrives exactly forty years after the original Elmer T. Lee Bourbon first hit shelves in 1986.
The Man Behind The Name
To understand why this release matters, it helps to know who Elmer T. Lee actually was, because his story is really the story of how American bourbon became what it is today.
Lee came to the distillery — then known as George T. Stagg — in 1949, taking a job as a maintenance engineer after returning from World War II and finishing his degree at the University of Kentucky. That's not exactly the resume you'd expect from a man who would go on to reshape an entire industry. But over the next several decades, Lee worked his way up through the ranks until he became Master Distiller, guiding the operation through a long stretch of modernization while quietly building a reputation as one of the most respected figures in whiskey.
His biggest contribution came in 1984, when he introduced Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon. It sounds unremarkable now, since single barrel bottlings are everywhere, but at the time nobody was doing this. Blanton's was the first single barrel bourbon ever put on the market, and it opened the door to the idea that bourbon could be treated with the same kind of care and individual attention as fine wine or scotch. Two years later, in 1986, the distillery put Lee's own name on a bottle, releasing Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon as a tribute to the man and the standard he'd set.
That standard — hand-selecting barrels, prizing consistency, never cutting corners — is why the bottle still carries weight with collectors and casual drinkers alike, four decades later.
What Makes This One Different
Every bottle of Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon released up to now has gone through the same finishing steps most bourbons go through: it gets cut with water to bring the proof down to a standard level, and it's chill filtered to keep the liquid clear and prevent it from clouding up in cold weather. Those steps are normal. They're also, in a very real sense, adjustments to what came out of the barrel.
The 40th Anniversary Edition skips all of that. The barrels chosen for this release are bottled exactly as they were pulled, at whatever proof they naturally reached while aging, with nothing added to soften them and nothing filtered out to smooth them over. According to the distillery, this is actually closer to how Elmer Lee himself would have tasted and judged barrels when he was hand-picking the ones destined to become Blanton's. In other words, this isn't a gimmick tacked onto an anniversary. It's meant to be a more honest look at the way Lee actually experienced the whiskey he was famous for choosing.
Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley, who worked under Lee earlier in his own career, put it this way:
"Elmer's legacy is something we feel and celebrate every day at the Distillery, not just in the bourbon we make, but in the way we approach our work. His commitment to craftsmanship guided not only our future at Buffalo Trace, but it also helped set the course for American whiskey as a whole. I was fortunate to learn from Elmer early in my career, and his guidance left a lasting impression on how I approach my work. Releasing this rare whiskey in his honor is incredibly meaningful and a privilege for all of us at the Distillery."
Inside The Bottle
Because nothing was added to bring these barrels down to a uniform proof, the 40th Anniversary Edition isn't a single, fixed number. Depending on which barrel a bottle comes from, proof ranges anywhere from 124.8 to as high as 138.6. That's a wide spread, and it means no two barrels in this release are going to hit a glass exactly the same way. Some will run hotter and more intense, others a bit more rounded, but all of them were chosen specifically because they showed real depth and individual character rather than a flat, predictable profile.
Across the lineup, tasters can expect notes of apricot and almond up front, with vanilla, toasted coconut and honeysuckle layered underneath. On the palate, the distillery describes a rich, almost chewy texture with a sweetness reminiscent of crème brûlée, finishing long with toasted oak and warm baking spice. It's a fuller, more concentrated experience than the standard Elmer T. Lee release, which makes sense given there's no water standing between the whiskey and the glass.
Erica Bovard, Senior Brand Director for American Whiskey at Buffalo Trace, explained the thinking behind presenting the bourbon this way:
"For the first time, we're sharing Elmer T. Lee Bourbon exactly as it comes from the barrel. By offering it uncut and unfiltered, we're able to highlight the depth and character of the whiskey while staying true to the standards Elmer set. We think fans will love this release, and importantly, it's one we believe Elmer would be proud of."
How To Actually Get A Bottle
This is a limited release, and the distillery isn't pretending otherwise. Rather than a first-come, first-served rush or a lottery run through a third-party retailer, Buffalo Trace is handling the 40th Anniversary Edition through something new: a bottle drawing hosted directly by the Buffalo Trace Distillery Gift Shop. Suggested retail price is set at $99.99 for a 750ml bottle, though local taxes and fees will affect the final number depending on where someone lives.
The distillery says this drawing system was put together in direct response to feedback from visitors and collectors who've grown frustrated with how limited bourbon releases are typically handled. Here's how it actually works. Registration opens at 10 a.m. Eastern on September 15 and stays open through 11:59 p.m. Eastern on September 17. Each person is allowed exactly one entry, and importantly, registering early doesn't improve anyone's odds — everyone who enters during that window has an equal shot. On September 22, an independent partner not affiliated with the distillery will randomly draw the winning names, and every single entrant will be notified of the outcome, whether they were selected or not.
Winners then have a specific window to make good on their entry: from September 28 through October 11, selected participants can visit the distillery during regular visitor hours to purchase their bottle in person. Since this is the very first time Buffalo Trace has run a drawing like this, the distillery has said it plans to collect feedback from everyone who takes part, with an eye toward refining the process for future limited releases. Anyone interested in entering, or just wanting more detail on how the system works, can find registration information at buffalotracedistillery.com/draws.
A Small Addition To A Long Tradition
Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon has never been a mass-produced product. It's released in limited batches on an ongoing basis, bottled only when individual barrels are judged ready, which is part of why it's held onto its reputation among collectors for so long. Over the years, the distillery has marked special occasions with a handful of rare variants built around Lee's legacy, including a Commemorative Bottle in 2013, a 100 Year Tribute in 2019 marking what would have been Lee's 100th birthday, and a 90th Birthday Edition released back in 2009.
The 40th Anniversary Edition now joins that short list, but it stands apart from the others in one important way. Where those past releases mostly celebrated Lee's life and milestones, this one changes the whiskey itself, presenting it in a form nobody outside the distillery has really had the chance to taste before. For a man who spent his career quietly perfecting how bourbon was selected and judged, letting people finally taste it his way feels like a fitting way to mark forty years.
More information on Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon, including details on the broader lineup, is available at buffalotracedistillery.com/our-brands/elmer-t-lee-single-barrel.
