Buffalo Trace is one of my favorite distilleries. They seem to have the Midas touch; most of their products are outstanding. The distillery is conveniently located near downtown Frankfort and the standard tour is very nice. Click here to read about the normal public tour I took here last year. This time I had made arrangements with Buffalo Trace's own Ken Weber who graciously gave us a personal behind the scenes tour.

The distillery suffered wind damage on April 2, 2006, just a few weeks before my visit. I've seen old pictures like this, but it was amazing to see it in person. It is not unusual for a tornado or strong wind to tear the roof and walls off a warehouse and leave the barrels untouched. The walls of a barrel warehouse are not connected to the rick structure that supports the barrels. This allows the ricks to shift as the barrels are loaded or moved. The unusual structural design along with the barrels shape and weight are what save the barrels under these circumstances.

The first building Ken took us through was the Bottling Plant. The amount of equipment was quite impressive. It must be overwhelming on the senses when running in full production.

This is a great example of the interesting bits of architecture hiding all over the distillery grounds. The structures have been expanded and reworked over the years which leads to some very nice details if you keep your eyes open.

The stone building in the background is known as the "Dickel House". Their Cascade brand was made here from the late 1940's until at least the late 1950's.

This building was once the home of Commodore Taylor. The first floor is constructed of stone and dates to 1787, making it the oldest house north of the Kentucky River (in KY I presume). The second floor was added much later. Ken told us that Buffalo Trace plans to remove the second floor and restore the house to its original state.

This contraption is used to transfer grain to the cookers. The operator stands on the front left side and turns the red crank to move it along its tracks. It was a lot of fun to drive this huge tank back and forth with a fairly minimal effort on the crank. The tank is positioned under the desired feed tube, filled to the proper volume, moved over the intended cooker, and then unloaded out the bottom.

Here we are in the fermenter building. The tanks are enormous at 92,000 gallons each. I can't stress how huge these tanks are. It's like looking into the hold of a tanker. The yellow ductwork above the tanks are exhaust vents. If the carbon dioxide created by fermentation was not sucked off the tanks it would settle several stories below, displace all the oxygen, and kill the workers.

These are the yeast tubs where yeast is grown and prepared for fermentation.

Below are several pictures of the column stills and tail boxes. Buffalo Trace distills its "Rain Vodka" in the far still which was built many years ago to serve the thankfully brief "light bourbon" craze. Now it creates a very tasty and VERY light bourbon, also known as vodka.

Warehouse V is the world's smallest bonded warehouse. It was built in 1952 to house the 2,000,000th barrel produced since the end of Prohibition (1933). The distillery has no idea how many barrels were produced before (and during) Prohibition. Every "millionth" barrel since then has been stored in this warehouse. Its current resident is the last barrel filled in the 20th century. Jimmy Johnson, father of tour guide Freddie Johnson, has rolled all of the special barrels into this warehouse. Buffalo Trace estimates that the 6,000,000th barrel will be produced sometime in 2009. Mr. Johnson, who is currently 90, requests that they hurry it up.

Here's my buddy Art checking out Pappy Van Winkle's famous "But Always Fine Bourbon" plaque. Ken was a great host and it was wonderful to see the behind the scenes operation at such a historic distillery. It is clear that the people here love what they do and that Buffalo Trace is in business to make fine bourbon, not maximum profit. Pappy would be pleased.

Buffalo Trace Distillery