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This week on the Bourbon Bytes podcast... Kavalan shocked the whiskey world at the 2026 International Whisky Competition, taking three of the top five spots with Taiwanese single malt releases including the Peatist Oloroso Sherry Cask, Solist Ex-Bourbon Single Cask Strength, and Solist Madeira Cask. Then Buffalo Trace announced Camp Buffalo Trace, a new 21+ summer camp-style experience featuring bourbon education, blind tastings, single barrel challenges, barrel stave workshops, and even overnight luxury camping at the distillery. Buffalo Trace also quietly revealed a new Bourbon Lemonade canned cocktail, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon and real lemon juice, available at the distillery this summer. Then it’s time for a Byte-Sized Review of a Buffalo Trace Single Barrel Store Pick from K&L Wine and Spirits. This 9 year, 2 month Buffalo Trace store pick was bottled in a 1.75L handle for around $65, making it one of the best values I’ve found from Buffalo Trace in a while. It brings classic Buffalo Trace character with extra age, oak, brown sugar pastry, candied apple, cherry, caramel, chocolate, and a surprisingly solid finish for 90 proof. Is this the best way to drink Buffalo Trace? Topics covered: • Kavalan’s massive International Whisky Competition sweep • Camp Buffalo Trace luxury bourbon camping • Buffalo Trace Bourbon Lemonade canned cocktail • What makes Buffalo Trace store picks different • K&L Wine and Spirits Buffalo Trace single barrel review • Final score and whether store picks are worth hunting YouTube Chapter Markers: 00:00 Intro – Kavalan, Camp Buffalo Trace & Store Pick Review 00:29 Welcome + Episode Setup 00:58 Kavalan Sweeps the International Whisky Competition 03:03 Camp Buffalo Trace 06:13 Buffalo Trace Bourbon Lemonade 08:01 Byte-Sized Review – Buffalo Trace Single Barrel Store Pick 17:06 Byte Club + Outro Would you grab a Buffalo Trace store pick over the standard bottle?
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0:00
Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, Cavillons shocks the whiskey world with a massive competition sweep
0:06
Buffalo Trace wants you to camp at the distillery. And we get a surprise drop of bourbon lemonade
0:12
Plus, I'm pouring up a bite-sized review of a Buffalo Trace single barrel store pick
0:30
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites podcast. I'm your host Clifton and this is the week of July 16th, 2026
0:39
While we are in the thick of the summer slump across whiskey when there's not too many news and announcements, there are some international competitions that are heating up
0:49
So the first news story comes to us from the International Whiskey Competition. They just dropped their 2026 winners
0:55
It's done on a 100 point blind tasting. So each whiskey is giving a score out of 100
1:02
And surprisingly, Cavalon has gotten three of their top five spots this year
1:07
I've not had much experience with Cavalon or Cavalon. I've heard it pronounced a couple of different ways, but it is a Taiwanese single malt whiskey
1:15
And I've heard it compared to a lot of craft whiskey in America because they are a completely new category
1:20
They're still figuring out how climate affects their whiskey and discovering their specific place in the world of world whiskey
1:27
I've heard they really excel at their wine cask releases. And like I said, I may have tried one once or twice, but I don't have any recollection of how it is
1:36
But after this, I'm going to have to go seek out a bottle or three because the Cavillon Petist Oloroso Sherry Cask was their number one whiskey of the year with a score of 96.97
1:48
Their Cavillan Soloist, which was an ex-bourbon single cask strength release, got a score of 94.63
1:57
And in fourth place, their Cavillan Soloist Madeira cask got a score of 94.37
2:04
So three of their whiskeys are in their top five. Now, of course, they're accompanied by A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength, which I have heard amazing things about
2:12
and a Chinese whiskey called Leisao Amontillado Sherry Cask. Those are number three and number five
2:20
But numbers one, two, and four are all from Cavalon. So really cool to see that
2:24
I love to see new categories of whiskey just in general, but especially ones that are doing really well in competitions
2:31
especially when they're blind. That shows that there's no bias involved at all
2:35
You really are getting a true experience of what is the best whiskey out there
2:40
So while I am a little sad that bourbon didn't hit the top spot, I am really excited to see Cavalon do so well
2:46
So let me know if you've had any of these releases or if you've had any Cavalon in general and let me know which one I should pick up because I'm very intrigued to see
2:54
They also placed a lot more in their, you know, full list. I'm just talking about the top five
2:58
I mean, there is a huge amount of Cavalon that was selected this year
3:03
The next piece of news I have for us is a fun one. So Buffalo Trace has announced Camp Buffalo Trace, which is a new summer experience featuring bourbon education and overnight luxury camping
3:15
This was just announced this week, but they are starting this new tradition this summer at Buffalo Trace
3:22
Of course, this isn't your kid's summer camp. This is for everyone 21 and older
3:26
They say they are blending nostalgic summer camp-inspired activities with hands-on bourbon education
3:31
Camp Buffalo Trace features a full day of interactive programming, culminating in a rare opportunity for select guests to extend their adventure with an overnight stay in luxury camping accommodations on site
3:43
They say they are reimagining some classic summer camp activities through the lens of America's native spirit, offering four hands on experiences, including whiskey woodcraft workshop, which guests will create a custom muddler from authentic barrel staves, a bung driving relay, which puts guests to the test in a Cooperage inspired fast paced competition, and then a blind tasting and Buffalo Trace trivia
4:08
I feel like I would do pretty good at that. I know a lot about Buffalo Trace and I'm pretty good at blind tastings if you've seen some
4:15
of my live streams. But lastly, they are ending it with a single barrel challenge
4:19
So guests will sample three barrels of the same bourbon at different ages and attempt
4:24
to identify each one while exploring how time warehouse placement and maturation influences a whiskey final character Now like I said they are going to have some air canvas tents available with premium furnitures and a fully stocked mini fridge with water
4:40
and, of course, Freddy's old-fashioned sodas. It sounds like a fantastic way to experience the bourbon trail
4:47
I love to see experiences like this. I know Kentucky's not the only one doing it
4:51
I've seen some craft distilleries putting on these really cool events. But wow, wouldn't it be cool to say that you spent summer camp at Buffalo Trace
4:58
I would absolutely love the opportunity to go try this. Now, this year, it's going to take place on August 29th and September 5th
5:04
And it's going to be a very limited attendance, at least for this first year. It's going to be available through an online sweepstakes
5:10
There are going to be 90 winners. Each will receive a guest pass and those will be able to do the day camp experience
5:17
But 10 winners will also get the chance to do the overnight luxury camping experience across both dates
5:23
so it sounds like it's going to be really limited but it sounds like they're going to beef this up
5:28
in the coming years it is the start of something really new for the distillery and I love the idea
5:33
I've never had a chance to really do glamping I think the closest thing I've done to it is
5:37
we stayed in a tiny little cabin in Costa Rica a couple summers ago which was it was awesome it was
5:45
basically like a campsite but there were the tiny little teepee cabins and I love that experience so
5:49
add bourbon to the mix and I am there. Now this is just one of the expanded lineup of seasonal
5:55
activities happening at Buffalo Trace. They have their annual Great Buffalo Chase Fun Run every
6:01
year on July 4th. They have Backyard Session Summer Concert Series to Biscuits and Bourbon
6:06
which is their exclusive morning tour and tasting starting later in July. But I also want to talk
6:13
about the fact that they slid in an announcement of a new product in this press release that I think
6:17
a lot of people may have missed. So they are announcing their Buffalo Trace Distillery
6:22
Bourbon Lemonade Canned Cocktail. And you know, I was just talking about the barreled old fashion
6:28
that Buffalo Trace put out during my live stream last week and how it was one of my favorite
6:33
ready-to-drink cocktails. Now it's exciting to see that they're releasing even more to their lineup
6:39
This one is going to be available for complimentary tastings and purchase at their gift shop starting
6:43
on July 4th all the way through September 7th. They say it's a refreshing new ready-to-drink
6:48
cocktail made with bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery and real lemon juice. So it's really
6:53
exciting to see more ready-to-drink cocktails from Buffalo Trace. I think they do a really good job
6:58
with them and I think bourbon and lemonade is just a classic summer drink. Right now it says
7:03
it's only at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. I'm hoping it's one of those things where they launch there and it does really well and we see it outside of the distillery, but I think we need
7:11
more bourbon ready to drink cocktails. I see some of them, but a lot of times they are either
7:15
you know, Manhattans or old fashioned, which are great, but I want a nice summer cocktail
7:20
And during my live stream last week, I tried two from Penelope, which was their Blackberry
7:25
old fashioned and their Peach old fashioned, both of which were fantastic. If you missed that
7:29
live stream, check it out. I tried Penelope's classic series lineup and their new Architects
7:34
of Golf release. That was last Thursday night on YouTube. Catch the replay. But yeah, I think
7:40
Buffalo Trace should absolutely enter the ready-to-drink summer cocktail market because I
7:45
am their target audience. I love a good bourbon lemonade. But we're going to keep the Buffalo
7:50
Trace barrel rolling with our bite-sized review. All right, well, like I said, this is a little bit
8:03
of a shorter episode, but I really wanted to tie it all together with this single barrel store pick
8:09
of Buffalo Trace bourbon. So I know Buffalo Trace is one of those controversial ones that you can
8:14
either find regularly at every grocery store or you have to hunt for hours to find a bottle
8:20
Luckily in Southern California, Buffalo Trace is pretty regularly available on the shelves
8:25
pretty much anywhere you go. Now it is harder to find some of their higher end items like Eagle Rare
8:31
even E.H. Taylor Small Batch, although it's been showing up quite a bit more frequently
8:35
at least in mid-2026. But one thing that I have found that I absolutely love in their lineup are
8:42
single barrel store picks of just regular Buffalo Trace. To me, it is a huge improvement over standard
8:50
Buffalo Trace. Now, Buffalo Trace is a small batch product, but it is not a single barrel. So when
8:56
you have the opportunity to try an independent barrel of it picked by a store that you trust It always a good time And this is no exception This is from my favorite local liquor store here in Southern California K Wine and Spirits And funny enough this actually came in
9:12
a handle. I've never seen a store pick in a handle, but that's how they did it this time around. So
9:17
it's a 1.75 liter bottle of a Buffalo Trace store pick. I bought this for 65 bucks. So that's about
9:25
in line with retail. I think, you know, if it were just a 750 milliliter, it'd be closer to 40
9:30
ish, but really good price for 1.75 liters of bourbon. And this one was distilled on December
9:37
12th of 2016. So it is nine years old and two months. It is aged entirely on the fourth floor
9:44
of Warehouse K. And like I said, they bottled this in the 1.75 liters and 375 milliliter small
9:52
bottles. So it's exciting to see different variations of bottling for this. But yeah
9:57
Over nine years old and Standard Buffalo Trace, you know, is said to be between six to eight years old for the most part
10:04
So it's exciting to see an older store pick. And if you're curious, this is barrel number 125
10:10
It says it's currently out of stock, but they do have a different barrel available. I think that one's closer to eight years old
10:16
But this one I just picked up relatively recently. So maybe they're going to get more in stock soon
10:20
Listen, I think Standard Buffalo Trace is a solid budget buy, which I know that might upset some people
10:25
but these store picks are really where it's at. I think they have so much more complexity and flavor
10:30
and they're the same proof. They're coming in at the same, you know, 45% APV, 90 proof
10:35
but I think their flavor packs way more of a punch. So I don't think I've ever reviewed one
10:39
here on the podcast. I've done them several times on my YouTube channel, whether I'm just comparing
10:44
it to a standard shelf bottle or other Buffalo Trace lineup. Check those out. Just search Buffalo
10:49
Trace on Bourbon Bites. But yeah, I think it's a first for the podcast. So let's go to get this
10:54
open and poured. And just in case you're curious how to tell if something is a store pick
10:58
Buffalo Trace specifically has a Sazerac Barrel Select sticker on the side of the bottle
11:04
They do it for their EH Taylor, their Eagle Rare, their Stags. Look for it. It's a little gold
11:08
sticker and it usually has a picture of the store logo on it as well. That's how you know it's a
11:13
store pick. A lot of times they're sold for the same price as the regular Buffalo Trace. So you
11:18
got to keep an eye out. I actually surprisingly found a Whole Foods pick once on the shelf
11:22
exact same price as their standard buffalo trace so it definitely pays off to keep your eyes peeled
11:27
but let's go ahead and give this nine year two month buffalo trace a nose oh yeah i mean you
11:34
know what's interesting is it is that typical buffalo trace nose but it has like i said an
11:39
extra layer to it this has a lot of oak going on and it kind of reminds me a little bit more of
11:44
like an eagle rare now eagle rare is a 10 year old expression of buffalo trace it's a little bit
11:49
higher proof, but this definitely is in that realm, but for the price of a regular Buffalo
11:54
Trace, which is a big win. It's a little less of the cherry. I think cherry is a distinctive note
11:59
that I get more so on Eagle Rare and Stag. It's a note that I don't always vibe with, but this has
12:05
just very little bit of it. It's very much more of a sweeter caramel vanilla, just typical delicious
12:11
bourbon note on the nose. Very classic Buffalo Trace, but man, it just has that extra layer of
12:17
age and, you know, spice that I don't get on standard Buffalo Trace at all. It's like a brown
12:23
sugar-coated pastry is the best way to put it. Man, I cannot wait to give this a try. So let's
12:28
give it a taste. Cheers, y'all. Yeah. Now, surprisingly on the palate, that's where the
12:36
cherry shows up, but it's a little bit different than the cherry I get on a Eagle Rare. You know
12:41
some people say they get grape on Eagle Rare. I have gotten a little bit of that, but to me
12:45
it's usually that dark, really rich, you know, wild cherry. This though is different. It's a
12:51
brighter cherry. It's almost like a, you know, candy covered cherry, if that was a thing. And the
12:56
more I taste it, it's, it's that candy coating is the strongest thing here. So even more than cherry
13:01
more of like a candy coated red apple, like at a state fair, it has like that apple skin note
13:07
but with that sweet glaze of that candy outside, that's really nice. So bright up front. I mean
13:13
I'm getting a myriad of other flavors there, but they're all in that realm of like walking
13:17
into a old town candy store. You know, like in some tourist cities you go in, they're making the fudge, they're making
13:23
the saltwater's happy. This is definitely giving me that experience, but specifically that candied apple, maybe
13:29
a little bit of that candied or maraschino cherry kind of note. It really good It really really sweet though And the more I drink it the more it settles on the mid palette and the back end of the palette with this dark rich caramely almost a little bit chocolate but more of like a caramel chocolate blend and finish You know that oak shows up
13:48
just a little bit. I think it's not nearly as oaky as it was on the nose, but it definitely
13:52
shows up on the back end of the palette. And it actually gives it a bit of a longer finish than I
13:56
would normally expect. I would say it's about a medium finish, nothing too crazy. But for a 90
14:01
proof bourbon, I'm not upset about that at all. Overall, this is just an extremely drinkable
14:06
bourbon and I think a solid improvement over standard Buffalo Trace. Now, if you don't like
14:11
Buffalo Trace, you may not like this one, but as someone that appreciates just regular Buffalo
14:16
Trace, this is worth the 10 plus extra dollars that I've been seeing it go for when it is more
14:21
Otherwise, it's around the same price. It's not going to blow your socks off. It's not going to be the best tasting bourbon you've ever had, but it will satisfy that craving for something special
14:29
something unique and especially if you're a buffalo trace lover i mean you're gonna enjoy
14:33
the heck out of this so now it's time to give it a score for my bite-sized review i keep it simple
14:38
here we do just one score considering all things like palette price availability proof nose finish
14:43
all the things so for this one like i said it was 65 but for a handle so i'm gonna round that down
14:50
to like 35 ish for the the regular 750 milliliter bottle i think this is an absolute win especially
14:56
with its being nine years old. Usually if you have a good store, they'll let you know the age
15:01
of the bourbon. If they do have a pick, sometimes they have some NDAs where they can't disclose this
15:06
information. But I know K&L is very, very transparent. Like I said, they have this one
15:11
that was nine years, two months, and then they had another one that was an eight year. So of course
15:15
I went with the older one to give it a try. But man, is that a good buy for the money. Now
15:20
hard to find. Yes, I know availability does have a factor into it. I wouldn't go pay secondary for
15:25
a Buffalo Trace store pick. Definitely not. It's definitely meant to be a, I don't want to say
15:31
bottom shelf, but a lower to mid-tier, you know, drinking bourbon. You know, I'd say mid-tier is
15:36
usually around $50 to $70. So this is a little bit below that. But overall, I mean, there's not
15:41
much to complain about here. It's a solid proof. It's a great price. And for what it is, I'm going
15:46
to give this one a 8 out of 10. And that seems really high, but you got to consider this is a
15:51
nine-year-old bourbon for the equivalent of like 35 bucks. I mean, it's going to be hard to find
15:56
something like that. I mean, Knob Creek, I think is the one that's more of a standard available
16:00
release at that age. But again, that's not a single barrel. If you want a single barrel Knob
16:05
Creek, you got to go quite a bit higher in price. But you do get that jump in proof as well. Don't
16:09
get me wrong. I love me some single barrel picks of Knob Creek. But for a single barrel store pick
16:14
at an eight to nine-year-old age range, I mean, I think this is fantastic. And it's going to be
16:18
hard to find a better bourbon for the price. Evan Williams single barrel, maybe, I mean, I guess
16:24
but it's not necessarily a pick either. So I'm not saying it's unbeatable, but I think it's a solid
16:28
eight out of 10 for all things considered price availability and just overall experience. This is
16:34
a everyday drinker. I mean, I will say I bought this handle about two or three weeks ago and I'm
16:39
already through half of it. Now, of course I've been using it as just kind of like a casual sip
16:44
around the house. You know, when we have people over, this is kind of what I pour them. But yeah
16:48
this has definitely been a favorite in the bourbon bites household. Shout out to the folks at K and L wine and spirits
16:54
This is not sponsored. I am just a loyal patron of their store
16:58
Um, I go regularly and yeah, I just saw this on the shelf the other day and I was like
17:02
you know what? I'll give it a try because they've not failed me yet on a store pick
17:06
But speaking of patrons, if you do want to support the channel and allow me to buy more fun bottles
17:10
like this, you can join the bite club, which is what I call my membership program here
17:15
You can go to bourbonbites.com for as little as $2 a month and support the channel
17:19
Your support means a ton. It allows me to buy some really cool bottles like this. You can also join on patreon.com slash bourbonbites
17:26
Same benefits. It's just your preferred platform. Thank you all to all my Bite Club members
17:30
Thank you for making this possible and making me want to continue these bourbon exploratory journeys
17:36
But with that being said, that wraps it up for this week's episode. Thank you all so much for listening
17:41
I will be back next week for another Bourbon Bites podcast episode
17:44
same place same time every Thursday morning make sure you follow me wherever you get your podcast
17:50
leave a thumbs up if you are watching on YouTube and until next time cheers and game on
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