Buffalo Trace Distillery charitable ways is paying dividends for several worthy causes.
In May 2019, the distillery chose 378 charities to receive special edition bottles from the six millionth barrel of Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The whiskey filled bottles were exclusively distributed to non-profit organizations in the United States to raise funds for charities.
To date, 332 non-profit organizations have raised $1,145,162 for charities of their choosing. The remaining 56 have had to reschedule or postpone fundraising efforts due to Covid-19. This dollar amount exceeds Buffalo Trace’s goal of raising $500,000 and is expected to grow as non-profits come up with creative ways to safely raise funds in the next few months. Causes that have benefitted include education services, ecological foundations, leukemia and lymphoma, arts foundations, veterans, animal rights and many more. The full list of charities can be found here.
Each organization that was chosen received a bottle with a beautifully handwritten description on the glass. The bottles were packaged in a hardwood showcase box that included a piece of the charred oak stave from the historic barrel and a small brochure that explained the significance of this collector’s edition.
Bourbon Charity was the top fundraiser for the bottles. The Arizona-based nonprofit raised $69,125 from a donor base of bourbon enthusiasts through their Six Millionth Barrel to Give Thanks event. The fundraiser was set up as online sweepstakes which allowed donations starting at $10. Idaho’s Wood River Community YMCA raised $39,000 toward scholarships and programs through its annual Y Classic event.
The Lovely Project raised $24,000 with their efforts. The Orlando organization, which exists to provide girls with tools, education and peer-mentorship, held its second annual Pappy & Friends event that concluded with an ask for donations. The highest donor received the limited edition bottle, which resulted with two individuals matching donations and sharing the bottle.
This is the third time Buffalo Trace has offered commemorative bottles for non-profits to use for fundraising purposes. In 2011, the distillery offered its Millennium Barrel of bourbon, put up to age on Dec. 31, 1999. That effort raised more than $150,000 for various charities across the U.S. In 2016, its inaugural O.F.C. Bourbon Whiskey from 1980, 1982 and 1983 were released in the same manner, and non-profits reported back they had raised more than a million dollars for charitable causes.
Buffalo Trace is not currently offering any bottles for charity fundraising, but in order to keep potential partners informed of periodic charitable offerings, non-profits can register their causes through a form on the Distillery’s Contact Us page.
