Buffalo Trace 'Hard Hat' Tour (April 2006)
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Buffalo Trace is one of my favorite distilleries. The distillery is conveniently located near downtown Frankfort and the standard tour, which I have taken several times, is very nice.
This time I had made arrangements with Buffalo Trace for a personal behind the scenes tour.
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.
The white building on the right 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.
Buffalo Trace is thinking about removing the second floor and restore the house to its original state.
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 Bottling Plant. The amount of equipment was quite impressive. It must be overwhelming on the senses when running in full production.
The grain silos. As grain is delivered by truck, it is stored here until needed.
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 of Warehouse V 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.
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.
