Most bourbon bottles come with a plain metal cap. Blanton’s whiskey does not. Every bottle comes with a hand-cast pewter horse and jockey on top. And that small detail has turned thousands of people into active collectors.
How the Stopper System Works
There are eight different stoppers in total. Each one shows a horse and jockey at a different moment of a race. Each stopper is stamped with one letter. The eight letters spell B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S. They’re applied to bottles at random. You won’t know which one you’re getting until you open the box.
The Full Set Challenge
Collecting all eight letters is one of the most popular side hobbies in the bourbon world. Some fans spend years chasing the complete set. Others get lucky and finish in just a few purchases.
If you collect all eight and send them back to Sazerac, they’ll mount the full set on a real barrel stave and mail it back to you as a display piece. Many serious collectors have this mounted on a wall.
Are Some Stoppers Rarer Than Others?
Yes, slightly. The T and S stoppers show up less often in some markets. The distillery hasn’t officially confirmed any letter is truly rarer. But collector forums have tracked distribution patterns for years and certain letters consistently take longer to find.
Tracking Your Collection Digitally
Several apps and websites exist specifically for bourbon collectors. You can log each stopper, note the barrel number, and track which letters you still need. Some collectors use simple spreadsheets. Either way, keeping a record saves you from duplicate purchases.
Trading Stoppers With Other Collectors
Active collector communities exist on social media and bourbon forums. People trade stopper letters to complete sets faster. If you have duplicates of a common letter and someone needs it, a trade can benefit both parties without anyone spending more money.
The Wax Seal Issue
Each bottle is sealed with wax over the stopper. This wax looks great in person. It’s also fragile. Cracking during shipping is common and well-documented. Most of the time it doesn’t affect the bourbon inside at all.
Looking to add to your stopper collection? Browse current stock of Blanton’s Whiskey.
The stopper is part of what makes this brand feel different from everything else in the bourbon category. Once you start collecting them, stopping becomes surprisingly hard.
The stopper system has turned buying a bottle of whiskey into something that feels like a small surprise every time. That kind of engagement is rare in any product category. It’s one of the simplest and most effective collector mechanics in the entire spirits world.
Collecting stoppers started as something a few dedicated fans did on their own. It became a brand-supported program with a tangible reward at the end. That kind of community-building is rare and it’s one of the reasons Blanton’s maintains such a loyal following compared to other similarly priced bourbons.
