Shape Up or Ship Out: Is Stagg Jr 25A Bourbon the Return to Form We've Been Waiting For?
- Nick Anderson
- Oct 10
- 5 min read
“Halftime is where champions rewrite the playbook—reflect, refuel, return stronger.”
- Farshad Asl
There's a moment when you feel the tides shifting, when the game is on the line and suddenly—you feel that glimmer of hope. I've been lucky to have felt it many times in my lifetime as a Massachusetts native watching Drew Bledsoe, Adam Vinatieri, and Tom Brady win Super Bowl after Super Bowl for the infamous New England Patriots. Perhaps the most incredible comeback story of them all was the 28 to 3 deficit in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI against the 2017 Atlanta Falcons. After an abysmal performance in the first half, the game looked all but over... but then, there was a spark. Brady flashed to life, jumping into a no-huddle formation that saw a flurry of crisp, perfected plays. With time bleeding out, the scoreline evened, and the veteran quarterback, ready to take this game to the finish line, beat down the visibly exhausted Falcons defense, which was ultimately defeated by James White crossing the goal line in overtime.
While these iconic stories can seem rare, there are countless opportunities we're given to live out this exact same heroic arc. It's the story of the comeback kid, down and out after a bout of bad luck, ready to win it all. Stagg, in all its post-junior tumult, is in one such position. After a pretty atrocious showing in 2024, this brand is ripe for a return to glory. Having tasted 18 different expressions of the junior line, I am not ashamed to admit that I love this bottling. I self-proclaim myself to be a "Stagg man," but that doesn't mean I'm willing to accept sub-par quality. In accordance with my strict editorial policy, I regularly review the latest and greatest whiskey. Sometimes bottles are sent to me, but more often than not I have to buy them with my own scratch. This bottle is an example of the latter.
With the patience of the collective community wearing thin and demand seemingly cratering for whiskey in general, now is the time for brands to be leading with their best. Blending prowess and distilling knowledge will be how the modern distiller survives what appears to be another era of an impending bourbon glut. The last time we saw this kind of lopsided supply and demand ratio, more than a few distilleries fell by the wayside. One lucky distillery has stood the test of time, though it had to change hands a few times through the glut era.
Known historically as the George T. Stagg Distillery, the comeback story of Frankfort saw the eventual Buffalo Trace property undergo piecemeal ownership transfers between names like Albert B. Blanton, Ancient Age Distilling Company, Schenley, Age International, and Japan's own Takara Shuzo, namesake of the Japanese Blanton's export. Stagg, however, is an even older name. In what I wrote about further in my Stagg Hub article, the origin of the George T. Stagg name goes all the way back to 1835, the birth of the name itself. While Buffalo Trace continues to use the name for marketing purposes, the whiskey they produce today is very much their own contemporary creation, governed by modern distilling practices. What we are tasting now will be part of the legacy of our generation. Will future tasters look back on us as fondly as we look back upon George T. Stagg, I wonder?
Today I will be diving into the latest batch of Stagg, formerly known as Stagg Junior, which is their 28th bottling of this expression since their first release in the winter of 2013. As usual, I'm tasting this neat out of a glencairn on a fresh and sober palate, and my notes and rating are based on three independent tastings of this bottle. Now, on with the review!
Company on Label: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY
Whiskey Type: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey
Mash Bill Percentages: Undisclosed Buffalo Trace mash bill # 1 (high corn, low rye, malted barley)
Proof: 126.5°
Age: NAS (though rumored to typically be around 8 years old)
MSRP: $70
Further identification: This is the 25A batch of Stagg Jr, which first arrived in late summer 2025
Nose: On first lifting the glass to my nose, I find sweet caramel dominant and candied apple a bit more reserved. Another long inhale shows little evidence of spice, but a sweet, soothing strawberry aroma can be teased out of the cool depths. Blooming with a little stirred heat, I find graham cracker and white pepper. A stronger swirl transforms the glass into evocative oak before it settles back into Hershey's strawberry syrup. Deep inhales produce a bit of tingling wood spice, as one might expect out of a decently aged Kentucky bourbon at this proof. Nosing further, I find wafts of molasses, cornbread, and brown sugar all playing minor background roles. As I try to dig further, the glass runs out of steam and turns a bit thin with a simple vanilla and allspice remnant hanging on in the wispy air of my glencairn. I'm pleased with the opening remarks, but it's time for a sip. Coming back to the nose, which I nearly forgot to do as I sipped through with eager attention, leaves me with a widening smile. Vanilla biscotti, caramel chews, and light strawberry candy offer a perpetual treat for the nostrils. The empty glass smells of light marshmallow and the inside of a camping tent.
Palate: My first taste is hotter than the nose let on; ethanol booms as cordial falls softly on the tongue. Another sip, free from the aftershock of the day's first sip of whiskey, offers a much deeper complexity. Caramel cookies dipped in strawberry milk make my nostalgic taste buds quite happy. The flavor categories from the nose translate well; I find the strawberry syrup backbone, the molasses mouth coating, and the inherent oak, but they land a touch drier than expected overall. Sipping further without reservations about quality, I discover this glass does have the classic cherry hots that Stagg Junior may be most known for. It's a bold profile I couldn't possibly recommend to a whiskey novice, but one I know the longtime bourbon heads will probably enjoy. A long sip settles things down significantly, with an easy booziness you might find in a Manhattan cocktail. The linger is a bit lacking, though the delivery of flavor is on point. On swallowing, a nice wave of cranberry juice comes over the senses before fading into a simple bed of flour. My last sip is kind and sweet to me, calling forth a wonderful array of memories of some of my favorite Louisville nights, sipping on the old great batches of Stagg Junior at Garage Bar as the sun takes flight. For the first time in quite a while, I'm thoroughly pleased with this pour of Stagg Junior.
TL;DR: A lovely return to form for Stagg with a balanced strawberry-forward dram
Rating: 4/5
This reminds me quite a bit of Stagg Jr batch 15. The strawberry tones are incredibly unique to these particular batches, though I find batch 15 to be a bit more pronounced and consistent. It is so wonderful to see Stagg Junior, a line I have consistently explored through most of my review career, returning to a form that I can endorse as "whiskey that doesn't suck." If you want to see a live review of my first taste of this batch, head over to the HackandMack YouTube live that I recently jumped on for some fun whiskey banter between good folks.
I have 18, 22A, 22B, 23A and 24C.. the 25A is by FAR the worst Stagg I have ever tasted. The nose is ok, the palate is good but on the finish I get pure bug killer/kerosene in the back of my throat. I thought it may have just been me that day but I went back to it two weeks later and same thing. STRONG Chemical finish. I even tried blinding them and I picked out the 25A first sip and got none of the chemical aftertaste from the other.s.
Having tried this batch, I completely agree. What a lovely return to form! Try pairing GRAPES with Stagg and watch what happens 🤯 Speaking from research, it works. SO WELL.