Buffalo Trace Distillery: A Rich Kentucky Tradition.
Kentucky wasn’t always abundant in horses and bourbon as it is today. For thousands of years, buffalo covered the area that was overgrown with forests and native cane. The herds of buffalo would create large trails through the lush vegetation and crossed shallow parts of the river. These trails were referred to as buffalo traces and was used by 18th-century pioneers to enter the wild and hunt or travel.
On the eastern bank of the Kentucky River, near Frankfort is where Buffalo Trace Distillery can be found. The distillery has been creating whiskey for over 200 years, although the actual name of the distillery dates back to 1999.
Hancock and Willis Lee from the Ohio Company, along with then surveyor George Rogers Clark, established the town of Leestown along the Buffalo Trace. Once settled, Hancock Lee began distilling whiskey, which was common practice at the time. Distilled spirits were a way of life in those days and very much a crucial part of the culture.
There were several reasons that Hancock chose this location, just downstream from Kentucky’s newly named capital, Limestone water and corn were abundant in the area as well as oak to create the barrels. Because they were along the river, this made loading the barrels of whiskey much easier.
A man by the name of Harrison Blanton started distilling whiskey in 1812 and shipped the spirit down the Kentucky, Ohio, and Mississippi River to New Orleans where demand was high.
As the demand for whiskey flourished, distilling continued in Leestown throughout the Civil War. In 1870, Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. bought the property and decided to modernize and industrialize the whiskey making process. His process was known as O.F.C. which stood for Old Fashioned Copper as he was using all copper distilling equipment. Another innovation by Taylor included using steam heat in the warehouses. In 1878, the distillery was bought by George T. Stagg. Albert B. Blanton joined the distillery in 1897 as an office boy and would later become the president of the George T. Stagg distillery.
Blanton headed the distillery through the prohibition era as the distillery was one of the few who were allowed to keep distilling for medicinal reasons. Illness “plagued” the country between the years of 1919 to 1933. The distillery bottled 1 million of medicinal whiskey in the year of 1925. Over 6 million prescriptions were written for Kentucky alone during those years. Coincidence?
Through the years the distillery had undergone several name changes becoming Blanton’s and then Ancient Age. In 1952 Colonel Blanton retired and Warehouse V was built. The small warehouse still stores a single aging barrel since the end of Prohibition. In 1952 it housed the two millionth barrel.
Elmer T. Lee became the distillery manager in 1968 and introduced the first single barrel bourbon proudly named Blanton’s.
In 1992 Ancient Age Distillery was purchased by the Sazerac Company. After remodeling and updating the equipment, the distillery reopened as Buffalo Trace in 1999, the same year as they released their bourbon of the same name.
As you can see the distillery has gone through many changes throughout its rich history. As time has passed, many different names of past and vital distillers have come and gone bringing their knowledge and expertise to the industry, along with some great Bourbons such as Colonel Taylor, Blanton’s, George T. Stagg, and many, many others. As you take the next sip, remember there is a little bit of Kentucky Tradition in every bottle.
Cheers!
