With the addition of Eagle Rare 30 and previously Eagle Rare 12, the lineup has now welcomed two new age-stated expressions to Buffalo Trace’s most award-winning lineup. It’s part of a broader expansion of Buffalo Trace’s whiskey portfolio, which has left bourbon fans eager to learn more.
That’s where UPROXX comes in.
I was recently treated to multiple full-lineup tastings of the Eagle Rare brand courtesy of the Sazerac Company, and having experienced them all in tandem twice, I’ve got plenty of thoughts. While Eagle Rare 25 was our critic’s pick for bourbon and best overall whiskey of the year in 2023, you may be wondering how it compares to the brand-new Eagle Rare 30. Similarly, Eagle Rare 10 is Buffalo Trace’s single most-awarded bourbon at reputable contests like the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, but it’s only natural to wonder how it holds up against the new Eagle Rare 12.
It’s time to answer those questions, taste, and rank the full Eagle Rare lineup.
Let’s get it started!
6. Eagle Rare 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
The standard Eagle Rare is one of Buffalo Trace’s most sought-after mid-shelf offerings. Aged for at least 10 years, this bourbon is essentially a single-barrel version of Buffalo Trace Bourbon, with the primary difference being that the two brands are hand-selected to cater to slightly different tastes, despite sharing the same mash bill.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The distinct aroma of a caramelized orange wheel joins mature oak, faint cherry notes, and vanilla frosting as the marquee players here. Because Eagle Rare is essentially a single-barrel product, your mileage may vary, but you can almost invariably expect that prototypical cherry aroma to be present with this expression.
Palate: Flavors like cherry syrup, mellow oak, and some vanilla extract are burrowed in this bourbon and reticent to greet your taste buds. The modest proof point might be the culprit here (and, again, with single-barrel bourbon, some variance in quality is to be expected), but the flavors on the palate are a bit faint despite being harmonious and enticing.
Finish: The finish here is succinct, with modest cherry syrup and vanilla pudding notes combined with oak and black pepper spice bringing a close to the show.
Bottom Line:
Eagle Rare Bourbon is one I generally love, despite the wide range in quality from bottle to bottle. While it suffers in this side-by-side comparison against its older, and at times proofier siblings, Eagle Rare 10 is still a reliably delicious single barrel bourbon that belongs in every serious enthusiast’s collection.
5. Eagle Rare 12-Year Single Barrel Bourbon
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $250
The Whiskey:
Sporting a brand-new age statement, 2025 marked the launch of Buffalo Trace’s second addition to the Eagle Rare lineup in the past three years. Eagle Rare 12-Year Bourbon, aged for at least twelve years and receiving a bump in proof over its ten-year sibling, is the real deal.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, this whiskey sure passes the Eagle Rare smell test. It’s got a lot of those hallmark oak and black cherry notes that fans of the brand tend to love, but those flavors are discernibly dialed up a notch. The same can be said for the caramel and black pepper spice on the nose of this one. Everything is just a shade darker.
Palate: After taking a sip, the difference between this expression and Eagle Rare 10 becomes much more discernible. Not only is it a bit richer and busier on the tongue, but the texture is also noticeably more robust. In fact, the difference in mouthfeel between this and Eagle Rare 10 is pretty impressive, given that they’re only separated by 5 proof points.
Finish: Eagle Rare 12 has a medium-length finish that puts a fine point on its range of well-developed flavors. That means the black cherry, peppercorn, and oak notes all crescendo at the end of each sip.
Bottom Line:
Folks will surely grumble that what they really want from Buffalo Trace is more of the same, but this expression is proof that there are significant benefits to even minor tweaks. Sure, there might be errant bottles of Eagle Rare 10 that are better than Eagle Rare 12; that seems inevitable, given the variance of single-barrel bourbon. However, it’s the bump in proof that affords Eagle Rare 12 some impressive lift, texture-wise, that makes the real difference here.
4. Double Eagle Very Rare
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $3,000
The Whiskey:
Double Eagle Very Rare, launched in 2019, used to be the most expensive whiskey in Buffalo Trace’s portfolio, with an original MSRP of $2,000. For this expression, the brand takes Eagle Rare barrels, ages them for at least 20 years, and houses the liquid in an elaborate crystal decanter featuring one eagle within the bottle and a second on the bottle’s topper.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: It should come as no surprise that cherry can be found on the nose of this whiskey, carrying a throughline from younger expressions, but it comes across as a semi-sweet cherry liqueur with a cedar-like woodsiness bolstered by just a faint touch of honey and vanilla buttercream.
Palate: On the palate, this whiskey is surprisingly supple, with a gentle texture that entices the flavors to seep into your tongue. Here, you’ll find more honey and candied walnut notes, with the fainter flavors of cherry juice and vanilla pod beginning to pool in the midpalate. Finally, some butterscotch and mellow oak tannins are found as this transitions to the finish, along with a faint hint of black pepper and stewed raspberry tartness.
Finish: The finish is silky with baking spices like star anise and allspice, opening the door for returning the cherry flavors, which come across at their richest here. The finish is medium to long and tapers off pleasantly thanks to an extra dollop of vanilla buttercream dusted with cinnamon.
Bottom Line:
Double Eagle Very Rare has such an ostentatious presentation that you feel immediately drawn to either lavish it in superlatives or lambast it as everything that’s wrong with bourbon today. Luckily, you can’t drink the looks. Once tasted, you’ll find that any criticism of this bourbon should be reserved for its price tag and those creeping concerns that you’ll break the elegant bottle topper. As for the whiskey itself, it’s not one for the oak-averse, but most bourbon enthusiasts will lap up this lip-smackingly delicious expression.
3. Eagle Rare 17-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $1,900
The Whiskey:
Bottled at 101-proof as a nod to the original Eagle Rare bottling in 1975, 2025’s Eagle Rare 17 features bourbon matured for 18 years and 4 months, making it one of the brand’s oldest expressions. It’s also the second-oldest whiskey in the 2025 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, trailing only behind Sazerac 18.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the first whiff, this whiskey is loaded with apple leather and dried black cherry notes with manuka honey, very faint oak, and some caramel. It’s a wonderful bouquet of aromas, albeit a bit restrained.
Palate: On the palate, this whiskey is more demure, but still full of flavor. It doesn’t have any punch or brashness at the tip of the tongue, instead leading you to the midpalate before the flavors blossom with dried black cherries, peppercorns, sweet leather, and honeyed black tea notes. The mouthfeel is lovely, but overall it’s just a bit tame, texturally.
Finish: The finish is a bit drying, but the sweet notes of black cherries and vanilla pod keep it interesting, with some freshly cracked black pepper notes closing things out.
Bottom Line:
This is an undeniably delicious whiskey, one that represents its age well and presents all of the flavors one expects from fully mature Eagle Rare distillate. With a stellar midpalate experience as its standout quality, this one bests Double Eagle Very Rare because it boasts a youthful juiciness that melds the best qualities of the older Eagle Rare offerings with the hallmarks of its younger whiskeys.
2. Eagle Rare 25-Year Bourbon
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $13,000
The Whiskey:
Eagle Rare 25, which was first released by Buffalo Trace Distillery in 2023, represents the pinnacle of their celebrated Eagle Rare Bourbon lineup. To create this whiskey, they took barrels that were initially earmarked for their Double Eagle Very Rare expression and began aging them in the experimental, climate-controlled Warehouse P for an additional 5 years beginning in 2018.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Highly mature oak notes and tobacco leaves hit the nose at first, but those more prototypical aromas of hyper-aged bourbon are soon joined by an incredibly lush black cherry note that envelopes the senses. Little chunks of dark chocolate hang in the air as a surprising bit of vanilla custard, clove, and brown butter serve to enhance the nosing experience further.
Palate: The greatest trick up Eagle Rare 25’s proverbial sleeve is that it hits the palate with an incredible effervescence and youthful aspect texturally, which is to say that it avoids the common pitfall of hyper-aged bourbon, which can come across as densely packed with flavor, but with a limp, almost stale, mouthfeel. The flavor notes also evolve as this whiskey goes from the nose to the palate, with the flavors of candied ginger, dense caramel, and brandied cherries fanning out over the tongue and seeping into every corner of the mouth.
Finish: The finish on this whiskey is remarkably long and worth savoring as the black cherry notes find themselves on a bed of dense, mature oak, which never comes across as woodsy but rather exists as a foundational flavor that others can build off of.
Bottom Line:
The vibrancy of this expression is simply remarkable for a bourbon that’s rested for a quarter century in new oak, and it couples that liveliness with a lush, bordering on decadent, flavor profile that gently coats your tongue and slowly unfurls to reveal the richness of its depths. What makes Eagle Rare 25 so great is the balance of incredibly rich flavors with a vivaciousness that defies its quarter-century maturing in oak.
1. Eagle Rare 30-Year Bourbon
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $12,500
The Whiskey:
After 20 years of typical maturation, this whiskey was transferred to Buffalo Trace’s climate-managed Warehouse P for extended aging. While there’s no official count of how many bottles will be released, Harlen Wheatley told me that the liquid for this expression was drawn from a single consolidated barrel.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this bourbon is laden with nuanced notes of leather, chocolate-covered figs, kola nuts, and cinnamon bark. The scent of vanilla pods, cardamom, toasted almonds, and black pepper also adds depth to what comes across as a remarkably sophisticated aroma profile.
Palate: The hallmark Eagle Rare note of black cherry syrup hits the palate at first, and it lands with remarkable richness for an incredibly silky, mouth-coating experience. Glacé lemons dance on the tip of the tongue before revealing mature oak, brown sugar, apple leather, and honey-sweetened black tea at midpalate. It’s a vibrant, almost lively spirit, and true to its aim, it doesn’t show any of the acrid astringency seen in most other ultra-aged bourbons.
Finish: The finish is surprisingly lengthy, given its modest proof and general mellow nature, full of date syrup, buckwheat honey, faint peppercorns, and a touch of fresh vanilla pods. This is quintessential bourbon.
Bottom Line:
One thing that both Eagle Rare 25 and Eagle Rare 30 have in common is their absolute rejection of the astringency one expects of bourbons at their age. For Eagle Rare 30, it’s a textural vibrancy that’s further sculpted by the favorable hallmarks of hyper-aging, from magnificent oak tones to nuanced fruit-forward notes and delicate spices.
Sure, Eagle Rare 30 has the DNA of its 10-year predecessor, and the lush maturity of its 25-year-old counterpart, but with flavors pushed deeper into the oak than any Buffalo Trace expression before it, this one emerges anew, only recognizable as the undisputed crown jewel in the entire lineup.
