Buffalo Trace Distillery Announces Record Attendance

Buffalo Trace has announced a record 231,523 people visited their distillery in 2018. This represented a 15% increase over 2017 and a whopping 345% increase since 2010.  This increase comes as the distillery is in the middle of a $1.2 billion investment to expand its distilling and aging capabilities, as well as expand its visitor center.

The current distillery expansion includes replacing its 1951 boiler, adding 12 additional fermenters, and replacing the mash cookers. The current bottling hall is being moved to a different area on site where the bottling lines will be modernized to allow for more efficiency and better capacity. Buffalo Trace 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 a huge number and represents an average of 634 people per day. Meredith Moody, director of Homeplace development says:

“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.”

Construction on the second expansion of the visitor center is expected to begin in the fall of 2019. ColumbusBourbon has been to the distillery twice and came away impressed both times. You can see a recap and our pictures and experiences here:

Visit 1 to Buffalo Trace

Visit 2 to Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace Distillery

113 Great Buffalo Trace

Frankfort, KY 40601

Source: Buffalo Trace