Colonel E.H. Taylor Four Grain 2017 Release

Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr is considered one of the true bourbon pioneers. Born in 1830, he was orphaned at the age of five and was adopted by his uncle, Edmund Haynes Taylor Snr, who rechristened him as his junior. E.H. Taylor Jr is also referred to as Colonel Taylor due to his holding of the honourary title of Kentucky Colonel, something he shares with a number of state's distinguished sons, most notably a certain fried chicken vendor. Throughout his career, Taylor set up and owned seven different distilleries, and his lobbying for the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 has seen him considered as "the father of modern bourbon." Ten years earlier, having sold his stake in the OFC distillery (now Buffalo Trace), to George T. Stagg, he set up the Old Taylor distillery near Frankfort in Kentucky. The distillery featured a faux-Castle and sunken gardens on-site, and was the birthplace of bourbon tourism. Here he established the Old Taylor brand, which following Prohibition passed into the hands of National Distillers, one of the "big four" distilling company's who dominated the post-repeal market. The distillery itself closed in 1972, but production was moved to the neighbouring Old Grand-dad site until National Distillers were acquired by Jim Beam in 1987, who converted it into a warehousing and bottling facility. Beam marketed the brand alongside the other "Olds" from the National Distiller portfolio (Old Crow and Old Grand-dad) until 2009 when the Sazerac Company acquired it, returning Taylor's name to his early spiritual home at Buffalo Trace.

The Buffalo Trace version of the brand is known as Colonel E.H. Taylor. With the exception of the Barrel Strength releases, they are all Bottled in Bond at the 100 US proof required by the law that Taylor heroically campaigned for. 

This particular example is a Four Grain Bourbon meaning after the mandatory 51% corn, the mashbill is made up of 3 other grains - rye, wheat and barley are the most common - rather than the usual one or two.

Distilled in 2005, this was bottled at 12 years old, and again as a 13 year old in 2018.