Woodford Reserve Batch Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (2023 Release)

The folks at Woodford Reserve are led by Master Distiller, Chris Morris– who is not a generational distiller like many of his counterparts. He did grow up in the industry, though, as both his mother and father were distillery employees.

Morris himself has worked with Woodford Reserve since 1976 and took on his current role in 2003. He has been responsible for continuing the signature taste of the brand’s flagship bourbon as well as developing special bottlings.

One of those ‘Master Collection’ special releases is the Batch Proof – Woodford Reserve’s proprietary process – blending barrels into a batch and then bottling the whiskey at its actual proof, straight from the barrel. For collector’s this might be the WR they love the most, and it’s easy to see why. The 2023 release is a beauty – but she also checks in at 124.7 Proof which is no joke at all.

This is just like the regular WR release, but absolutely supercharged. Batch Proof takes the trademark flavor to a whole other level and checks in at more than 30 Proof over what the regular one can be had for. It’s a great collector’s item every year, but this Batch Proof seems to be fetching crazy prices on the secondary market. I see a ton of folks that are just south of $400/btl – double where we’re able to check in today.