Chris Stapleton performing at Bourbon and Beyond Music Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo:  Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

Chris Stapleton, the artist best known for his hit song, “Tennessee Whiskey,” finally has his own whiskey slated to hit the shelves next year. The country music sensation has chosen to go in a different direction with his choice of whiskey, however, passing over Tennessee and heading straight for Kentucky to tap the massive whiskey producer Buffalo Trace for the new venture.

Stapleton and Buffalo Trace’s release will be named “Traveller Whiskey,” labels submitted to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau revealed.

“Good whiskey is a lot like a good song,” the back label for Traveller Whiskey reads. “It requires no explanation. One taste should tell you everything you need to know. No one has to tell you how to feel about it. You simply settle in & enjoy.”

The spirit is bottled at 90 proof and crafted by Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley.

A Kentucky native, Stapleton was born near the bourbon megabrand and spent many hours tasting through over 50 different recipes of blends with Wheatley, according to the label. Ultimately, Stapleton chose Blend No. 40. According to the label, the blend is “a premium whiskey that speaks for itself.”

“Chris’s passion for quality craftsmanship — be it music or whiskey — is one that deeply resonates with me, and it’s what has made this collaboration unique,” Wheatley said, according to Gear Patrol. “Chris has been a friend of Buffalo Trace Distillery for many years and we’re proud of what we’ve created with Traveller. We’re eager to share it with the world,” Wheatley concluded.

Buffalo Trace hasn’t announced the whiskey yet, so we don’t know details like the mashbill, but the brand describes it as friendly and complicated, with “notes of oak, maple, currant and leather,” per Gear Patrol.

“Traveller” is a fitting name for a whiskey from Stapleton, as it is the name of his critically acclaimed solo studio album, which debuted in 2015.

Stapleton’s relationship with Buffalo Trace is a longstanding one. In November 2021, the singer donated an $18K bottle of Buffalo Trace’s E.H. Taylor Jr. single barrel bourbon to the Franklin County Humane Society for the Rare Bourbon Raffle.

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