BCA PRIVATE BARREL SELECTION • APRIL 28, 2026
Inside Our Buffalo Trace Barrel Pick: How BCA Selected Barrel #15
Go behind the scenes with the Bourbon Club of Arkansas as our selection team evaluates four Mashbill #1 barrels, breaks a two-barrel deadlock with a blind tasting, and chooses BCA Barrel #15.
SELECTED BARREL
Barrel #15
Chosen unanimously in the final blind tasting.
BARREL ADDRESS
Warehouse I
Floor 6 • Rick 60
AGE AT SELECTION
Just Over 8 Years
Filled March 1, 2018.
BOTTLING PROOF
90 Proof
Winning sample tasted near 129 proof.
A Buffalo Trace Barrel Pick Chosen for the Bourbon Club of Arkansas
This was not a media visit or a standard distillery tour. It was a working private-barrel selection for the Bourbon Club of Arkansas through the Sazerac Single Barrel Select program. BCA members Dustin Howell and Jeff Franzetti, joined by two guests, traveled to Buffalo Trace Distillery to choose one barrel that could stand on its own as a club release.
Most members did not know the selection trip was underway. Dustin and Jeff shared short live updates from the distillery, giving the club a rare look at how available barrels are evaluated, proofed for tasting, narrowed down, and finally chosen.
The result: four approximately eight-year-old Mashbill #1 barrels became two finalists, and a final blind tasting produced a unanimous winner—Barrel #15.
Watch the Buffalo Trace Barrel Pick from Start to Finish
Each video below follows the selection in chronological order. Expand any transcript to read the full session details and spoken dialogue.
STEP 1
Arriving at Buffalo Trace and Revealing the Mission
The day began on the Buffalo Trace campus with the club still largely unaware that a new BCA barrel was being selected. Dustin and Jeff previewed the plan: complete the barrel pick, take a behind-the-scenes tour, and participate in additional premium tastings while sharing as much of the experience with members as reception allowed.
View Session Details & Full Transcript (Click to Expand)
Date: 04/28/2026 1:01 PM CST
Location: Buffalo Trace Distillery | 113 Great Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, KY 40601
Participants: Dustin Howell, Jeff Franzetti (Bourbon Club of Arkansas)
Full Transcript
Dustin Howell: “What up BCA!”
Jeff Franzetti: “Hey hey”
Dustin Howell: “and uh we got a few more guys with us in front of us. Um, so we are we are heading to go do the pick, um, and we’ll try and do some live streams in there while we pick our Buffalo Trace barrel. And our tour is a little bit different. What’d you say? We’re doing the pick, and then we’re doing a tour.”
Jeff Franzetti: “Then we’re doing a little behind the scenes tour, and then we’re going to do some premium tastings.”
Dustin Howell: “Yeah, they’re letting us do a tasting, um, afterwards of a 107 single barrel, E.H. Taylor single barrel, and a and a Blanton’s. So, um, I know reception will be kind of spotty as we go through some of the buildings and stuff, but we will we will try and jump in and and go live some during the tasting as well as the tour. And then the second tasting at the end of the tour.”
Jeff Franzetti: “That’s right.”
Dustin Howell: “So, stay tuned, if I can end this.”
In the opening clip, Dustin and Jeff announce the Buffalo Trace selection and explain what the BCA group will be doing throughout the day.
STEP 2
Choosing Four Candidates Across the Buffalo Trace Campus
The available-barrel sheet gave the team each barrel’s warehouse, floor, rick location, and fill date. Rather than choose four barrels from nearly identical locations, the group intentionally built a varied tasting flight from different parts of the campus. The final candidates represented Warehouses Q, I, M, and O, including fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-floor locations.
That warehouse diversity matters because heat cycles and barrel placement influence maturation. It gave the team a better chance to compare distinct expressions of Buffalo Trace Mashbill #1 instead of tasting four versions from the same narrow warehouse environment.
STEP 3
Proofing the Samples to the Final 90-Proof Bottling Strength
The barrel samples were drawn at full strength, but the finished Buffalo Trace private selection would be bottled at approximately 90 proof. Sazerac Barrel Select coordinator Leann carefully proofed each sample down so the group could evaluate the whiskey as members would eventually experience it from the bottle.
The samples were also tasted blind and identified by letters rather than barrel numbers. That removed warehouse-address bias and forced the selection team to judge aroma, flavor, texture, and balance without knowing which physical barrel was in each glass.
This session also explains why the unfiltered selection-room samples can feel slightly more velvety than the final chill-filtered bottled bourbon—and records the moment Jeff earns the permanent BCA nickname “Beaker.”
STEP 4
Breaking the Deadlock with a Final Blind Tasting
After the first evaluation, two barrels remained. Both were strong enough to represent the Bourbon Club of Arkansas, but the group did not initially agree on which one was better. The team stepped into a working rickhouse while Leann reset the samples as a new blind flight labeled simply one and two.
The blind retest gave everyone a fresh comparison without the influence of earlier rankings. It also created a simple standard for the final choice: the winning bourbon had to earn consensus when the barrel identities were completely removed.
4. Dustin Howell – Blinding Samples (Transcript) View Details ▼
Date: April 28, 2026 | 1:13 PM CST
Location: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY
Transcript
Dustin: Okay, so we’re here in one of the warehouses. We’re still doing the pick. Uh, we’ve basically narrowed it down to two, and there’s some disagreements on which one. So, she’s moved us into here while she sets us up to blind A and B, which we don’t know, obviously, which barrels those are based on what we selected. But we’re going to hang out in here for a few minutes, then we’re going to go back in and get to blind those, and then we’ll be able to report back with
Jeff: A winner.
Dustin: A consensus.
Dustin: Yeah, a consensus. And both of them, both of them are good. It’s more of a disagreement of which one’s better—
Jeff: Better of the second nine.
Jeff: —better of the second nine out of 25.
Jeff: Yeah, can’t go wrong with either.
Dustin: So, meanwhile, we’re— I’ll flip the camera around here.
Background Speaker: Oh man, that barrel’s low.
Dustin: Okay, she’s ready for us. We’re going to go back in and we’re going to blind these, see what we come up with.
Leann: Alright, so I’ve pulled those samples out in front, so they’re sitting out in front. And now we’re going to go with one and two. One is on the left, two is on the right.
Dustin: Okay, one and two.
Background Speaker: One is on the left, two is on the right.
STEP 5
Barrel #15 Wins the Blind Tasting
The final blind produced a unanimous answer: Sample B was Barrel #15. With the decision complete, the group tasted the winner again at raw barrel strength—estimated at approximately 129 proof—before it would be proofed down for the final Buffalo Trace private-selection bottling.
That full-strength preview showed why Barrel #15 survived every round. It retained recognizable Buffalo Trace character while delivering a more forceful combination of savory flavor, floral spice, toasted oak, and peppered graham cracker.
View Session Details & Full Transcript ▼
Session Metadata
Date: 04/28/2026 13:54 CST
Location: Buffalo Trace Distillery, 113 Great Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Full Transcript
Jeff: A was 23 or 22?
Jeff: What was C and D, do you know?
Leann: C was seven and D was 19.
Speaker 2: The first one we kicked out was 19.
Leann: So we’re for sure going with B, barrel number 15?
Dustin Howell: Barrel number 15 it is.
Jeff: The blinds have it. At least I was consistent with my A.
Dustin: That’s the one we went with.
Leann: Alright, so if you guys would like we could try some of that at barrel proof.
Jeff: Absolutely. Nobody ever says no to that.
Dustin Howell: Actually we might need to try all of them at barrel strength just to know what we missed out on.
Dustin: Is it desiccant silica gel?
Dustin Howell: Do you want to try some?
Leann: She’s like too experimental right now.
Jeff: I’ve had a few people that tried it and actually evaporated their insides, but you know there are some things that come up it.
Dustin: Any notes on this? Anything you want to tell the club?
Jeff: Am I allowed?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we’re live. Take your shirt off.
Jeff: So yeah, the one we picked I’d say has a lot more bite to it.
Dustin: It does. Yeah.
Jeff Franzetti: It’s like a peppered graham cracker on your palette. Floral, it’s Buffalo Trace, but it’s just accentuated a little bit. I think it’s a good balance of savory and spice. That was my nickname when I was a stripper.
Dustin: Sorry. Jeff, it is. Jeff, what’s the over-under on how long before your brother gets kicked out of BCA?
Jeff: He’s not very active on Facebook, so that’s working in his favor. Whenever he makes his first post, it’s over with.
Leann: Alright, you guys just empty out your B glass so that we don’t mix different barrels.
Dustin Howell: Drink it or dump it. You don’t have to dump it, you can drink it. Here’s what I’m going to do. Watch this. Look at that right there. I feel like a Catholic priest when I get off this vestment. No. There we go. Just fill it up to the top is fine.
Leann: How’s that?
Dustin Howell: That’s great. Thank you.
Leann: This is probably somewhere around 129ish proof, okay?
Dustin Howell: Just tell me when.
Leann: These haven’t been proofed, so I don’t know for sure, but that’s my guess.
Dustin Howell: Do we get to put the rest of that in a water bottle to take?
Leann: They don’t let us do that anymore. ABC cracked down on us.
Dustin Howell: But we can try, right?
Dustin Howell: I mean if you just walked away then nobody ever knows.
Leann: Oh my god, right? I wish I could, believe me. State regulated, federal regulations, it’s crazy. It changes a lot of our rules. It makes it not quite as much fun, but
Dustin Howell: God that is good.
Dustin Howell: That’s so good.
Jeff: Isn’t that fun? It needs some.
Dustin Howell: Yeah, you need some. Please do.
Jeff: I have to taste the barrel proof.
Official BCA Tasting Notes for Buffalo Trace Barrel #15
These notes were recorded immediately after the winning barrel was revealed and sampled at full barrel strength.
Overall Profile
Savory and bold, with the familiar Buffalo Trace Mashbill #1 profile amplified rather than replaced.
Key Flavor Notes
Peppered graham cracker, floral spice, toasted oak, and a balanced mix of savory character and spice.
BCA Barrel #15 Selection Details
The selection sheet and final session details identify Barrel #15 as an approximately eight-year-old Buffalo Trace Mashbill #1 bourbon from Warehouse I. These specifications describe the barrel at the time of selection; final release and bottle-count details should be added when the retailer and delivery information are confirmed.
| Selection organization | Bourbon Club of Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Selection team | Dustin Howell and Jeff Franzetti, joined by two guests |
| Distillery | Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, Kentucky |
| Program | Sazerac Single Barrel Select |
| Whiskey | Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Mashbill #1 |
| Winning barrel | Barrel #15 |
| Barrel address | Warehouse I • Floor 6 • Rick 60 |
| Fill date | March 1, 2018 |
| Age when selected | Just over eight years |
| Expected bottling proof | Approximately 90 proof |
| Barrel-strength sample | Estimated near 129 proof |
| Selection method | Four candidates narrowed to two finalists; winner chosen in a blind tasting |
When Will the BCA Buffalo Trace Barrel Be Released?
The barrel-selection story is complete, but the bottle-release details were not included in the original announcement. BCA members should watch the Bourbon Club of Arkansas website and official social channels for the partner retailer, delivery timing, purchase limits, and member-priority instructions.
Editorial update needed before release: add the confirmed retailer, bottle count, price, exact release date, and purchase rules to this section as soon as they are officially announced.
Frequently Asked Questions About the BCA Buffalo Trace Barrel Pick
What is a Buffalo Trace private barrel pick?
A Buffalo Trace private barrel pick is one specific bourbon barrel selected by a private group, retailer, or organization through the Sazerac Single Barrel Select program. The selection group compares individual barrels and chooses one for exclusive bottling rather than receiving a standard batched release.
Who selected the Bourbon Club of Arkansas Buffalo Trace barrel?
BCA members Dustin Howell and Jeff Franzetti, joined by two guests, selected the barrel during an April 28, 2026 visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Which barrel did the Bourbon Club of Arkansas choose?
The group selected Barrel #15, an approximately eight-year-old Buffalo Trace Mashbill #1 bourbon from Warehouse I, Floor 6, Rick 60. The barrel was filled on March 1, 2018.
How was BCA Barrel #15 selected?
The team chose four candidate barrels from Warehouses Q, I, M, and O, tasted the proofed samples blind, narrowed them to two finalists, and used a second blind comparison to reach a unanimous decision.
What proof will the BCA Buffalo Trace barrel be bottled at?
The finished Buffalo Trace private selection is expected to be bottled at approximately 90 proof. The team also tasted the winning barrel at full strength, estimated near 129 proof.
What does Buffalo Trace Barrel #15 taste like?
The selection team described Barrel #15 as savory and bold, with peppered graham cracker, floral spice, toasted oak, and an intensified version of the classic Buffalo Trace profile.
How old was Barrel #15 when BCA selected it?
The barrel was filled March 1, 2018 and selected April 28, 2026, making it just over eight years old at the time of the pick.
Where will the BCA Buffalo Trace barrel be sold?
The source page did not identify a confirmed retailer or release date. Members should watch official Bourbon Club of Arkansas announcements for the partner retailer and bottle-drop details.
Can anyone buy a Bourbon Club of Arkansas private barrel bottle?
Availability depends on the release plan established with the partner retailer. Some BCA barrels may include member-priority access, limits, or a broader public release, so buyers should follow the official instructions for this specific barrel.
