Throughout the challenges of floods, fires, tornadoes and even Prohibition, the American family-owned Buffalo Trace Distillery has never compromised.
A timeless dedication to respecting the past while fearlessly innovating for the future has served us well for more than two centuries. No matter the challenge, be it Mother Nature or man, the people of our Distillery have been part of the story that shaped America and the spirit industry as well.
Pioneers Survey Frankfort and Forge Whiskey Roots Along the Buffalo Trace
Daniel Boone passes through Lee’s Town on the Buffalo Trace.
McAfee brothers and Hancock Taylor survey the Frankfort area.
Hancock and Willis Lee established
Leestown North of the Frankfort settlement
along the Kentucky River, now home to
Buffalo Trace Distillery.
Kentucky becomes the 15th state in the Union.
Commodore Richard Taylor builds “The Old Taylor House”; the one-story stone house is still on the site today.
From Modest Still to O.F.C. Empire: Bourbon Innovators Rebuild and Revolutionize
A three-story stone warehouse is built on the Kentucky River near Riverside to store goods.
This included many barrels of whiskey, awaiting shipment to as far away as New Orleans; Benjamin Harrison Blanton is said to distill on site in upcoming years.
A small but up-to-date distillery is developed by Daniel Swigert using warehouse and Riverside site.
Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. purchases the Distillery and christens it
“O. F. C.” – in reference to the belief that the finest whiskey was produced in old-fashioned wood-fired copper stills.
E. H. Taylor, Jr. invests over $70,000, a “small fortune,” as he builds a new distillery on the site.
The O.F.C. Distillery is purchased by George T. Stagg along with the adjacent livestock farm; Taylor continues to oversee operations.
Warehouse A and Warehouse B are built; still standing today.
Lightning strikes and burns the O.F.C. Distillery in “The Great Fire;” it is rebuilt immediately in a yet grander manner at a cost of $44,000 over and above the insurance collected.
The newly rebuilt distillery included a large mashing and fermenting wing which remains intact today as the O.F.C Building.
The Construction of Warehouse C, still standing today, completes Taylor’s vision for his “Model Distillery Plant of the World”.
Steam heating system for the warehouses is installed, making this the first Distillery to use steam heat which is still in use today.
Through Prohibition, Wars and Reinvention – A Distillery’s Unbroken Legacy
The Gilded Age ends and Albert B. Blanton is appointed as Still House, Warehouse and Bottling Superintendent
Blanton renames the distillery
in honour of as the George T. Stagg
The 18th Amendment establishing Prohibition in January 1920 is ratified and the Volstead Act is passed to guide its enforcement.
George T. Stagg Distillery is one of very few to receive permit to bottle medicinal whiskey and even fewer permitted to produce new whiskey from 1930 to 1933.
Albert B. Blanton becomes President of the George T. Stagg Distillery.
The Distillery is purchased by Schenley Distillers Corporation.
Prohibition ends with only four distilleries in Kentucky capable of producing whiskey.
Schenley begins a massive expansion program that culminates in 1935-1937 with a new state-of-the-art distillery complex.
Warehouse H, the Distillery’s only “metal-clad” warehouse, is the first of seven massive new warehouses built before World War II.
New Still houses are built onsite introducing the latest distilling technology at the time.
The great flood inundates the Distillery, cresting at 17 feet above the power plant, four feet above the base of Warehouse H
The Distillery produces its one millionth barrel of bourbon after Prohibition.
Warehouse “V,” the world’s only
“single barrel” warehouse, is built in
celebration of the two millionth barrel
of bourbon produced since Prohibition.
The Distillery introduces Blanton’s, the world’s first single-barrel bourbon.
The Distillery is finally returned to a family-owned business, after purchase by the Sazerac Company.
Distillery renovations are completed
and rechristened as the Buffalo Trace Distillery.
The Distillery’s new flagship brand
– Buffalo Trace is launched.
New Name, New Barrels, Historic Discovery: Buffalo Trace’s Renaissance Era
The Buffalo Trace Distillery is awarded Whisky Advocate’s “Distillery of the
Year” – the first American distillery to win this prestigious international award.
Elmer T. Lee is inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame
The Blanton Family homestead, also known as “The Beeches,” is
acquired by Buffalo Trace Distillery to preserve the historic home
built in 1818.
Master Distiller Gary Gayheart retires after 33 years at the Distillery.
Harlen Wheatley becomes Master Distiller of Buffalo Trace.
Buffalo Trace Distillery releases
its first Experimental Collection Bourbons,
consisting of three different experiments.
The E.H. Taylor, Jr. Micro Still, named after the father of the modern bourbon
industry, is launched. A combination pot still and column still, the Micro Still
allows Buffalo Trace to experiment in small batches.
The Distillery produces the six millionth barrel of bourbon after Prohibition.
Longtime Buffalo Trace employee and Barrel Warehouse Manager Ronnie
Eddins receives lifetime achievement award from Whisky Advocate Magazine.
Distillery is named Whisky Magazine’s
“Visitor Attraction of the Year”.
Recognized as “Brand Innovator of the Year” by Whisky Magazine.
Buffalo Trace Distillery named a National Historic Landmark.
Buffalo Trace Distillery constructs the world’s only experimental warehouse,
Warehouse X.
Distillery is named Whisky Magazine’s “Whisky Distiller of the Year, America”.
Distillery purchases land and expands to more than 400 acres
Discovery of long forgotten OFC Distillery, nicknamed “Bourbon
Pompeii”. TM
Visitor Attraction of the Year, Icons of Whisky America, Whisky Magazine
Over $1 Million raised for charities through first release of OFC Vintage Bourbon.
Distiller of the Year, Icons of Whiskey America, Whisky Magazine
EH Taylor 4 Grain receives top whiskey of the year honors.
First new warehouse construction since the 1950s.
BTD fills seven millionth barrel of bourbon since Prohibition.
Distillery expansion brings new cookers, fermenters, and state of the art bottling hall.
Expansion of capacity begins by bringing the new still house (a 1:1 copy of the 1936 stillhouse) online
Mark Brown moves from Sazerac CEO to Executive Chairman
Freddie Johnson Induced into the Whiskey Hall of Fame
Flood waters recorded higher than the great flood of 1937 cover the distillery; production swiftly resumes post cleanup
9 Millionth barrel filled since the end of prohibition
Col. Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr.
George T. Stagg
Albert B. Blanton
Pappy Van Winkle
