More than 230,000 Guests Visited Historic Distillery in 2018
FRANKFORT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, KY (Jan. 22, 2019) – Buffalo Trace Distillery continues to see exceptional tourism growth, setting new records for visitation year over year. The Distillery ended 2018 having welcomed a record-breaking 231,523 visitors during the calendar year. This is a 15 percent increase in visitation over the previous year, and a 345 percent increase since 2010.
This rapid increase in tourism is on trend with growing bourbon sales and is why the National Historic Landmark distillery is in the midst of a $1.2 billion investment to expand its distilling and aging capabilities, and again expand its visitor center to accommodate an increasing number of guests.
“It’s exciting to be growing in all aspects, we are thrilled that so many people took their time to come and see our team at work” Meredith Moody, director of Homeplace development said. “Our growth in visitation has allowed us to expand our tour offerings to six different complimentary tours, and offer our guests a unique look at the Distillery with each visit. Having just completed an expansion of our Visitor Center in 2015, we are looking forward to again expanding our tour capabilities to accommodate even more guests as we continue to grow.”
Planning is underway now for the second expansion of the Visitor Center. The Distillery anticipates construction to begin by this fall.
Also part of its Distillery expansion, Buffalo Trace just finished replacing its 1951 boiler, and will soon begin adding 12 additional fermenters and replacing the mash cookers. In order to make room, the existing bottling hall is in the process of moving to another area on site where the bottling lines will be modernized to allow for more efficiency and better capacity.
The Distillery is also building 22 new barrel warehouses on the farm it owns adjacent to the Distillery at a rate of one new warehouse every four months. Each warehouse will hold 58,800 barrels.
This is all part of the first large scale structural expansion at Buffalo Trace Distillery’s campus since the 1950s.
About Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich tradition dates back to 1773 and includes such legends as E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee. Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is a National Historic Landmark as well as is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won 21 distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Its Col. E. H. Taylor, Jr. Four Grain Bourbon was named World Whiskey of the Year by “Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible 2018.” Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 500 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com.