A Bottle Of Buffalo Trace's Rarest Bourbon Costs A Fortune

Buffalo Trace is one of the biggest names in bourbon today. Home to more than a dozen bourbon brands, including big names like Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor Jr., Stagg, and Blanton's, many of which make the list of the most expensive bottles of bourbon ever, it also produces its namesake and flagship Buffalo Trace Bourbon. This solid and usually affordable bottle topped our value-based ranking of popular Kentucky bourbons. However, that reasonable price tag hikes significantly when you're talking about one of its rarest bottles: the Buffalo Trace 18 Year '5 Millionth Barrel' Bourbon.

Several bottles of this rare bourbon were available through an online auction site (which is one of the ways to track down rare bourbon bottles like a pro) at an estimated price of $6,000 to $8,000. All three available lots have since been sold, for $8,400 (in December 2022), $8,750 (in June 2025), and $11,600 (in August 2025). 

Bottled in 1999 from the five millionth barrel that was filled on March 4, 1981, the bottles have been aged 18 years in Buffalo Trace's Single Barrel Warehouse V, and come in at a final barrel proof of 134.5. Distilled using Buffalo Trace rye mash bourbon recipe # 1, many believe this bourbon is what inspired the George T. Stagg line of bourbons. Most of the bottles were donated to charities to raise money, a trend that Buffalo Trace has continued with its next millionth barrel bottles. Buffalo Trace filled its 9 millionth barrel since Prohibition in September 2025.

Just how rare is a bottle of the Buffalo Trace 18 Year '5 Millionth Barrel' Bourbon? According to Unicorn Auctions, where some were sold, only around 30 to 40 bottles were produced in total, as there was very little bourbon left in the barrel after 18 years. By contrast, Buffalo Trace's 6 Millionth Barrel (which was filled 27 years later in 2008) produced 400 bottles in total, which were aged more than 10 years, and bottled at a much more standard 90 proof. Pricing for a bottle of the Buffalo Trace 6 Millionth Barrel though are still in the mid four figures, which makes the recent pricing for a bottle of the 5 Millionth Barrel seem practically reasonable by comparison, though only if you can find one, and if you happen to have a small fortune to spare.