On this page
GuideIf you like X
Bourbons like Blanton's and Buffalo Trace
Looking for Blanton's or Buffalo Trace? Compare readily available bourbons matched by mash bill, proof and flavour profile with live UK prices.
Let’s address the pewter horse in the room.
If you have spent any time on whisky forums, YouTube, or watching Keanu Reeves in John Wick, you have probably seen Blanton’s Single Barrel and Buffalo Trace Straight Bourbon. You have also probably noticed that when you try to buy them in the UK, they are either “Out of Stock”, locked behind a ballot raffle, or priced well above their retail value by grey-market flippers.
Blanton’s has become a collectible. People set out to collect all eight bottle stoppers to spell ‘B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S’, while secondary-market prices vary and often sit well above shop prices for a mid-proof whiskey with no age statement. There is little reason to pay ransom prices for a standard bottle.
Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Kentucky, is a historic distillery, but its methods are those of Kentucky bourbon generally: column stills, sour-mash fermentation and new charred American white oak barrels. Compare the mash bills and bottling strengths and there are bourbons on UK shelves in a similar style.
What are you actually tasting in Buffalo Trace & Blanton’s?
Buffalo Trace Distillery divides its primary bourbons into two core grain recipes:
- Mash Bill #1 (Low Rye, about 10% rye or less): Used for standard Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and E.H. Taylor. It produces sweet, round flavours of toffee, maraschino cherry, vanilla, and gentle oak.
- Mash Bill #2 (Medium-High Rye, ~12–15% rye): Used for Blanton’s, Elmer T. Lee, and Rock Hill Farms. It brings brighter baking spices (cinnamon, clove), orange peel, and dried fruit.
Here are the bottles that match those exact profiles, available to buy without a raffle ticket.
Alternatives to standard Buffalo Trace (Sweet, Balanced, Low-Rye)
If you love Buffalo Trace’s easy-sipping balance of vanilla, honeyed fruit, and mellow oak, these bottles hit the same sweet spot.
- Maker’s Mark Bourbon: £35.00 at The Whisky Shop. From Maker’s Mark, 45% ABV.
- While Buffalo Trace uses a low-rye mash, Maker’s swaps rye for soft winter wheat. The result is equally sweet, soft on the tongue, and delivers that same luscious red-cherry and caramel profile without any harsh grain ethanol.
- Four Roses Small Batch: £33.50 at Master of Malt. From Four Roses, 45% ABV.
- Master Distiller Brent Elliott blends four of Four Roses’ ten distinct recipes (specifically OBSK, OESK, OBSO, and OESO). The combination of two different yeast strains yields sweet apricot, creamy caramel, and gentle toasted oak that mirrors Buffalo Trace’s fruit-forward profile.
- Woodford Reserve: £35.50 at Master of Malt. From Woodford Reserve, 43.2% ABV.
- Triple-distilled in copper pot stills at Versailles, Kentucky, alongside column distillate. At 72% corn and 18% rye, it has a fractionally higher spice profile than Buffalo Trace, balanced by deep notes of cocoa, vanilla, and candied citrus.
Maker's Mark Bourbon
45.0% ABV · 70cl
from £35.00 2 retailers
£39.99 delivered
Compare prices
Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon 70cl
70cl
from £33.50 2 retailers
£38.45 delivered
Save up to £4.45
Compare prices
Woodford Reserve
43.2% ABV · 70cl
from £35.50 4 retailers
£40.45 delivered
Save up to £4.45
Compare prices
- Triple-distilled in copper pot stills at Versailles, Kentucky, alongside column distillate. At 72% corn and 18% rye, it has a fractionally higher spice profile than Buffalo Trace, balanced by deep notes of cocoa, vanilla, and candied citrus.
Alternatives to Blanton’s Single Barrel (Spicy, Oak-Rich, Single-Cask)
Blanton’s appeals because it is a single barrel release with higher rye spice (Mash Bill #2), bottled at 46.5% ABV (93 proof). These alternatives deliver equal or superior single-barrel craftsmanship.
- Four Roses Single Barrel: currently unavailable. Single barrel, 50% ABV (100 proof).
- If you want a true upgrade to Blanton’s, this is it. Four Roses Single Barrel uses their OBSV recipe (35% rye), giving it far more structural spice and herbal depth. Crucially, it is bottled at a full 50% ABV (100 proof) compared to Blanton’s 46.5%, meaning more flavour-carrying wood oils remain in the glass.
- 1792 Small Batch Bourbon: currently unavailable. Barton 1792 Distillery, 46.9% ABV (93.7 proof).
- Distilled in Bardstown, Kentucky, from Barton’s signature high-rye mash bill. Bottled at 93.7 proof, almost identical to Blanton’s 93 proof. The extra rye delivers cinnamon spice, butterscotch, and seasoned oak tannins.
- Knob Creek 9 Years Old: £38.02 at Master of Malt. Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, 50% ABV (100 proof).
- Blanton’s does not carry an age statement (it is generally estimated at 6 to 8 years). Knob Creek proudly states 9 full years of maturation in Kentucky rackhouses, bottled at a robust 100 proof. Expect dense char tannins, dark chocolate, and toasted pecan.
- Maker’s Mark 46: £47.00 at The Whisky Shop. A wheated bourbon, so not a higher-rye pick: its oak and spice come from seared French oak staves. 47% ABV.
- Matured Maker’s Mark barrels are emptied, fitted with ten seared virgin French oak staves (Cask 46 profile), refilled, and finished in Maker’s Mark’s limestone cellar. This contributes deep baking spice and dried cranberry notes.
What about W.L. Weller?
W.L. Weller is Buffalo Trace’s wheated bourbon recipe (the same mash bill used for the mythical Pappy Van Winkle). Bottles like Weller 12 Year Old were originally designed as humble everyday wheaters. Today, prices on the secondary market vary and are often far above that. There is little reason to pay that markup when Maker’s Mark Cask Strength and Rebel Straight Bourbon deliver authentic wheated Kentucky whiskey at normal retail prices.
Sources and review
Questions
Why is Blanton's so hard to find in the UK?
What mash bill does Buffalo Trace use?
What is the best direct substitute for Blanton's Single Barrel?
How does standard Buffalo Trace compare to other Kentucky straight bourbons?
About the author
