Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace Distillery sits in Frankfort, Kentucky, and is owned by the Sazerac Company. Its flagship bourbon, Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey, hit the market in August 1999. The distillery’s name comes from an old buffalo trail that once crossed the Kentucky River in Franklin County. Sazerac bought the place in 1992. Before that, it was called the George T. Stagg Distillery, and under that name it earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 2001, and became a National Historic Landmark on March 11, 2013.

The company says its distillery is the oldest continuously running one in the United States. Another contender is Burks’ distillery, now used for Maker’s Mark, which claims origins back to 1805 and holds a Guinness World Record as the oldest operating bourbon distillery. Distilling on the Buffalo Trace site reportedly began in 1775 with Hancock Lee and his brother Willis Lee, who died in 1776. Harrison Blanton built the first distillery there in 1812. In 1870, Edmund H. Taylor Jr. bought it and gave it its first name, the Old Fire Copper (O.F.C.) Distillery. Eight years later, Taylor sold it to George T. Stagg, along with the Old Oscar Pepper Distillery. That second distillery was sold within a year to James Graham, who used the land to expand the O.F.C. property. In 1886, Stagg installed steam heating in the storage warehouses, creating the nation’s first climate-controlled aging facility. During Prohibition, the distillery stayed open to produce whiskey for medicinal purposes.

Master distiller Gary Gayheart took over in 1985 and retired in 2005, succeeded by Harlen Wheatley. In 2016, the distillery announced a $200 million expansion. That October, while renovating a building into a meeting space, workers uncovered the foundation of the original 1873 distillery, which burned down in 1882, along with remnants of fermenters from that era. The foundation had been left in place after the fire, and a larger distillery was built on top. That spot is now open to visitors. In March 2022, the distillery released six-liter OFC Vintage Bourbon Whiskeys distilled in 1982, along with NFTs sold on Blockbar, with the top bid reaching $60,000. The sale was part of a charity effort to raise $2 million by donating 2,022 bottles of whiskey.

In early April 2025, after heavy rainfall exceeding 15 inches in some areas, the Kentucky River in Frankfort hit 48.24 feet—the second-highest level in the distillery’s 200-year history. Large parts of the campus were flooded, prompting damage assessments and a multi-phase recovery. Visitor access was halted, and an Easter event was canceled. Cleanup began in safe areas, while other parts stayed off-limits to recovery crews.

Production capacity is about 2,650,000 US gallons (10,000,000 liters) of whiskey per year, using a beer still that holds 60,000 US gallons (230,000 liters). The distillery is best known for bourbon but also makes rye whiskey and vodka. The Buffalo Trace bourbon brand launched in August 1999, two months after the distillery changed its name from George T. Stagg. Its self-produced brands include Buffalo Trace (straight bourbon, plus Experimental Collection, Black Ridge, Single Oak Project, White Dog, and Bourbon Cream), Col. E. H. Taylor (small batch, single-barrel, and barrel proof bourbon and rye), Eagle Rare (straight bourbon and 17-year antique collection), George T. Stagg (barrel-proof straight bourbon), Stagg Jr. (barrel proof straight bourbon), McAfee’s Benchmark (straight bourbon), O.F.C. (straight bourbon), Old Charter (straight bourbon), Old Taylor (straight bourbon), Peychaud’s Bitters, Platinum 7X/Platinum 10X (vodka), Sazerac (straight rye and antique collection), Thomas H. Handy (barrel-proof straight rye), Traveller (blended whisky with Chris Stapleton), W. L. Weller (special reserve, antique 107, Full Proof, 12 Year, Single Barrel, C.Y.P.B., and William Larue Weller antique collection straight bourbon), Wheatley (vodka), and Daniel Weller Emmer Wheat (biennial experimental release). Brands produced with Age International (a former owner, now part of Takara Holdings) include Ancient Age (straight bourbon), Blanton’s single-barrel (straight bourbon), Hancock’s President’s Reserve (single-barrel straight bourbon), Elmer T. Lee (single-barrel straight bourbon), and Rock Hill Farms (single-barrel straight bourbon). Brands produced with the Van Winkle family, under an agreement from June 2002, include Old Rip V.