Bourbon Heritage Month: A Look at Buffalo Trace Distillery

In celebration of Bourbon Heritage Month, Whiskey Raiders is diving deep into various bourbon brands in September. On Day 2 of this glorious month, we’re taking a look at Buffalo Trace Distillery, which is not only one of the oldest but also one of the most impactful distilleries in the industry.

A Buffalo Trace Distillery image via Buffalo Trace.

Buffalo Trace Distillery produces some of the world’s most iconic and sought-after brands in whiskey, including Blanton’s, Pappy Van Winkle and George T. Stagg. It has one of the longest histories of any distillery in the U.S., claiming to be the country’s oldest continuously operating distillery, and is almost as old as America herself.

Commodore Richard Taylor founded the distillery location when he built what is now known as “The Old Taylor House” in 1792. It was a one-story stone house that still sits in Frankfort, Kentucky. Taylor later built a three-story stone warehouse on the Kentucky River near Riverside to store goods — as well as whiskey, which was said to ship to as far as New Orleans.

Since then, the distillery has been where the biggest names in bourbon worked and launched their own brands, making Buffalo Trace one of the world’s most important distilleries and arguably the most influential bourbon producer in the world.

Buffalo Trace Distillery and Its Impact on the Whiskey Industry

You can’t consider Buffalo Trace’s effect on the world of whiskey without considering the man who changed the game for so many. E.H. Taylor Jr. is known as the “Father of the Modern Bourbon Industry” for good reason.

E.H. Taylor, image via Buffalo Trace.

Taylor is remembered as being responsible for linking the classic and modern eras of bourbon making. He was a banker who financed several distilleries and innovated much of the bourbon-making process, such as using copper fermentation tanks, grain equipment, column stills, modernized buildings, a more efficient sour mash technique and a first-of-its-kind steam heating system still used in the barrel warehouses today. Taylor was also a politician who most notably pushed for the passage of the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897.

Today, the distillery is led by its namesake brand, Buffalo Trace Bourbon, and several other brands, which have earned the highest accolades in the industry. From the Van Winkle collection to Eagle Rare, Blanton’s and Weller, Buffalo Trace has garnered over 500 awards for its range of whiskeys.

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