Summer Allocation Showcase

The Summer Allocation Showcase is the seasonal home for Bourbon Central's hardest-to-source bottles — the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection sit-downs, the Booker's quarterly batches, the Weller wheated tier, the Michter's age-stated rye, and the Knob Creek collector cohort that ships in limited quantities each summer. These are the bottles people set Saturday-morning alarms to refresh inventory pages for. When something on this page is in stock, it's because we just received an allocation drop — and depending on the bottle, that allocation may not return for another season.

The current allocation lineup

Anchoring this season's showcase is Blanton's Original Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey ($119.99) — the most-requested allocated bourbon in our store and the icon of the single-barrel category, complete with the engraved horse-and-jockey stopper that's become its own collectible. Right alongside it sits the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC) wheated cornerstone, Weller Antique 107 Wheated Bourbon Whiskey ($134.99) — the higher-proof Weller release that's become a near-impossible bottle to find at suggested retail anywhere in the country.

For collectors building the BTAC verticals, Stagg Kentucky Straight Bourbon ($169.99) anchors the high-proof slot — cask-strength uncut Buffalo Trace mashbill #1 in the 130-proof neighborhood. Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey ($94.99) is the bottled-in-bond pour of the Antique Collection lineage and the most approachable allocated bottle to start with if this is your first time buying inside the BTAC frame.

Outside the Buffalo Trace family, Booker's 2025-01 'Barry's Batch' Kentucky Straight Bourbon ($109.99) brings Jim Beam's small-batch flagship into the allocation tier — cask-strength, uncut, unfiltered, released quarterly with batch-specific naming and notes. Knob Creek 18 Year Old Bourbon ($179.99) is the deeper-aged Knob Creek release that drops periodically and disappears quickly. Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon ($209.99) honors the Buffalo Trace master distiller who created the modern single-barrel category in 1984.

The allocated rye tier

The summer allocation isn't only bourbon. Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey 2025 ($549.99) is the BTAC rye release — cask-strength Sazerac-mashbill rye that's become the most-allocated rye in the secondary market. Michter's 10 Year Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey ($284.99) anchors the Michter's age-stated tier alongside the standard 10-year bourbon and represents one of the few American 10-year ryes that ships in commercial quantities.

How to think about allocation

The bottles in this collection are priced at our acquisition cost plus standard markup — we don't run secondary-market markups on allocated stock. When a release lands, it ships first-come-first-served to verified adult addresses, with shipping speed determined by the destination state. If a bottle here is showing as in stock, it is in stock; the page updates in real time as inventory clears.

For the natural step-down picks while you wait for the next allocation drop, the standard tier is anchored by Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey ($49.99) and W.L. Weller Special Reserve Bourbon ($59.99) — same Buffalo Trace distillery, same two-mashbill lineage as the allocated Stagg and Weller Antique above, regularly in stock and shipping daily.

Related collections

For the broader allocated and high-end shelf, see our Bourbon collection for the full age-stated and single-barrel tier, the Best Sellers collection for the bottles that move fastest, and the New Arrivals collection for the most recent allocation drops. The natural cross-category companions for an allocation collector are in the broader Whiskey collection (the Michter's, Sazerac, and Barton 1792 verticals) and the Japanese Whiskey collection (where allocation dynamics work even tighter than the American market).

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer allocation cycle. The bottles on this page are the centerpiece of that cycle. Bookmark this collection — when the next drop lands, it'll show here first.