Three Historic Milestones of the Buffalo Trace Distillery

One of the oldest operating distilleries in the United States, Buffalo track boasts an unrivaled history spanning 200 years, combining traditional production and fearless innovation.

Located in Frankfort, Kentucky, the Buffalo Trace Distillery is home to many of America’s most famous bourbon whiskey brands, including Blanton Single Barrel, Papa Van WinkleAnd Rare Eagle.

Exploring the origins, survival of the Prohibition era and an award-winning legacy of the whiskey industry: here are three historic stops at the Buffalo Trace Distillery.

The ancient roots of Buffalo Trace

The origins of Buffalo Trace begin in the late 18th century, well before the establishment of an official commercial distillery in 1858, contributing significantly to Kentucky’s emergence as the whiskey-making capital of America.

Pioneer Daniel Boone is said to have traveled the “Buffalo Trace”, the ancient buffalo trail that crosses the Kentucky River in Franklin County, Kentucky, in 1771. In 1773, the firm of McAfee and Hancock Taylor conducted a land survey in the colonization zone. . By 1775, settlers and brothers Hancock and Willis Lee had established Leestown on the site, which grew to become a well-known shipping port for tobacco, hemp, corn, and whiskey to New Orleans. Susan Reigler, author of Kentucky Bourbon Country: The Essential Travel Guide (2013), suggests that records indicate that the Lee brothers were the first to begin distilling at the future Buffalo Trace site.

In 1811, a three-story warehouse was built on the banks of the Kentucky River to store goods, including whiskey, bound for New Orleans – Benjamin Harrison Blanton was rumored to have been distilling at the site since 1812. The Leestown property (approximately 4 acres) was acquired by Daniel Swigert in 1857, who would convert the buildings, allegedly including the warehouse and a pork processing plant, to establish the first commercial distillery in 1858.

In 1870, Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. purchased the distillery and renamed the site Old Fire Copper Distillery (OFC), in reference to the belief that the best whiskey was produced in old-fashioned, wood-fired copper stills. .

The OFC distillery was bought by George T. Stagg in 1878, Stagg subsequently rebuilt and modernized the distillery throughout the 1880s, expanding the mash and fermentation plant and constructing warehouses equipped with a steam heating system to provide temperature-controlled aging in barrels.

Surviving the ban

The 17thth of January 1920, the 18thth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, widely known as the American Prohibition, passed into U.S. federal law, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of “intoxicating liquors” in the United States. A loophole in US prohibition law allowed the consumption of alcohol for scientific or medical purposes. For centuries, alcohol has been used for medicinal purposes and prescribed by doctors as a stimulant, preventative or tonic for illness. Doctors were still allowed to prescribe alcohol during Prohibition, but the law regulated the amount patients could receive.

Only six distilleries in the United States have been licensed to produce medicinal whiskey, including the George T. Stagg Distillery (the name given to Buffalo Trace from 1904 to 1999). Between 1920 and the end of Prohibition in 1933, the George T. Stagg Distillery was known for producing the “Carlisle” and “Three Feathers” brands of medicinal whiskey.

In 1929, George T. Stagg was purchased by the Schenley Distillers Corporation and was one of only four distilleries in Kentucky capable of producing whiskey when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Schenley immediately began an expansion program to meeting American demand for whiskey after Prohibition. 1933, culminating in the construction of a modern distillery complex between 1935-37. By 1942, the George T. Stagg Distillery had produced its millionth barrel of post-Prohibition bourbon.

In October 2023, Buffalo Trace launched the Prohibition Collection, reintroducing whiskey brands produced at the George T. Stagg Distillery during Prohibition. The collection includes four discontinued whiskey brands, Three Feathers, Old Stagg, Walnut Hill and Golden Wedding, as well as a newly created expression reminiscent of medicinal whiskey called “Spritus Frumenti” – the name commonly used during Prohibition for whiskey medicinal in America.

The award-winning legacy of Buffalo Trace

The Buffalo Trace website proudly celebrates the distillery’s heritage as “the most prime distillery,” which honors Buffalo Trace’s enduring commitment to producing premium whiskey. In 1992, the George T. Stagg Distillery was purchased by the Sazerac Company, which undertook seven years of renovations before renaming the site as Buffalo Trace Distillery in 1999. The Buffalo Trace Distillery would become the first American distillery to receive the award. Whiskey Advocate’s. “Distillery of the Year”, a prestigious international award in 2000.

Since 2000, Buffalo Trace has won more than 40 distillery titles, awarded by publications such as Whiskey Magazine, Whiskey Advocate and juries such as the International Wine & Spirits Competition. Numerous awards include “Distiller of the Year” from Whiskey Magazine (2005) and the International Wine and Spirits Competition (2014). The distillery has also been recognized several times as “Tourist Attraction of the Year” and “Innovative Brand of the Year” (Whiskey Magazine, 2010, 2011). Buffalo Trace has also won more than 500 awards for the distillery’s wide range of premium whiskey brands.

In 2013, the Buffalo Trace Distillery was designated a National Historic Landmark, demonstrating the distillery’s historic importance to the American whiskey-making industry, while celebrating a legacy of more than 200 years of innovation and tradition in distillation material.