Stagg Jr
“Like my daddy always said, where there’s a way, there’s a will.”
We were somewhat surprised to find that Stagg Jnr has only been around since 2013. Understudy to the infamous George T Stagg bourbon in age, strength and unsurprisingly, price. It is released in batches periodically throughout the year making its availability much higher than the annual release of Stagg Snr. From late 2021, the ‘Jnr’ label was dropped, so if you’ve still got one of these, they could be worth a pretty penny or two.
Official notes on the Buffalo Trace website declare that Staff Jnr is aged for nearly a decade. This translates to some that it is in the region of around 8 years of age. As with many barrel proof bourbons the alcohol by volume is different in each batched release. Stagg Jnr is an unfiltered bourbon, also commonly known as non-chill filtered. Bourbon is usually chill filtered to ensure its appearance is crisp, clean and for most consumers, more attractive in appearance to drink.
Now, it may be billed as the younger upstart to the main man George, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this dram will go easy on you. There are no punches pulled here and this is most definitely not a watered down version of Stagg Sr.
It starts with brown sugar, vanilla, and cherries in an intricate and delightful aroma on the nose, which all follow through to an equally inviting palate that tries its best to prepare you for the heat which is about to envelop you in (as Mav calls it) “a nuclear explosion on the tongue”. This is a monster dram, definitely not for the faint hearted. If you can handle the heat and the extremely long finish, it is a very palatable whiskey indeed and one that should not be overlooked as inferior or subpar to the senior version.
