Since the repeal of Prohibition, Frankfort, Kentucky-based Buffalo Trace Distillery has been turning out all manner of delicious elixirs by the barrel, earning them a spot on virtually every decent barkeep’s shelf in the country. While that alone is notable enough, last month they crossed a huge milestone: their 7 millionth barrel.
It only took them just shy of 10 years to cross the 7 million threshold after marking their 6 millionth barrel.
That particular barrel, number 6 million, was stored in a place of honor — in Warehouse V, the world’s smallest bonded warehouse for bourbons — by none other than their 92-year-old retired foreman Jimmy Johnson. There it sat, from May 14, 2008, until April 11, 2018, when barrel number 7 million was rolled out and presented to a private audience of employees.
The occasion was marked by a speech from Buffalo Trace President and CEO Mark Brown, who was also using that same day to dedicate the first new warehouse to be built on the Buffalo Trace farm. Warehouse AA, as they’re calling it, is the first of more to come over the next decade, and holds up to 68,000 barrels.
Thanks to their expansion plans, Buffalo Trace expects it won’t take them another decade to clear their 8 millionth barrel.
In the meantime, drinkers will get a chance to have a nip of no. 6 million’s contents this summer, but expect the bottles to be quite pricey. Buffalo Trace plans to donate the bottles to charities for fundraising purposes — and, get this, you’ll actually have to apply to be among the lucky few to snap one of these up. They haven’t announced the details on that yet, but we’ll be watching.