Buffalo Trace obviously sells a lot of whiskey and they recently hit a new high.
Marking a significant milestone of growth, the distillery recently rolled out its seven millionth barrel produced since Prohibition.
Tour guide and third-generation employee Freddie Johnson had the honor of carrying on his father’s legacy, and rolled the seven millionth barrel into Warehouse V with a little help from his grandson. Johnson’s late father Jimmy Johnson, a former warehouse supervisor, had notably rolled out each millionth barrel produced at Buffalo Trace since Prohibition.
The seven millionth barrel was rolled into Warehouse V, the world’s smallest bonded warehouse, which was constructed specifically to house each millionth barrel produced at the Frankfort, Kentucky-based distillery. Warehouse V held the six millionth barrel, which Jimmy Johnson had rolled out at age 92 on May 14, 2008.
In honor of the occasion, the distillery also officially dedicated the first warehouse, Warehouse AA, built on its farm. Warehouse AA is the first of 30 new warehouses to be built on the distillery’s farm over the next 10 years, each of which will hold 68,800 barrels. This major expansion of warehouse capacity marks another milestone of growth at the National Historic Landmark Distillery and is part of the first large scale structural expansion at the Distillery’s campus since the 1950s.
It took nearly 10 years for Buffalo Trace to replace its six millionth barrel with its seven millionth barrel, but the distillery is anticipating a much shorter turnaround for the eight millionth barrel as it is able to expand bourbon production and roll more and more barrels into the warehouses on the farm.
Buffalo Trace plans to bottle the bourbon from the six millionth barrel this summer and offer 375ml bottles of the bourbon to charities for fundraising efforts. Information about how to apply for a bottle will be announced soon.
