A Quick History of
Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace is arguably the biggest name in American Whiskey. Here’s a quick dive into the history of the company, as well as some of our favorite products.
3/10/2023
The History
The name Buffalo Trace may be relatively new, but the history of the famed distillery located in Frankfort, Kentucky, is deeply interwoven with the history of bourbon in Kentucky. It all started in 1792 with the construction of a one-story stone shack not far from the Kentucky River. 65 years later, the land was acquired by a man named Daniel Swigert, who converted it into a “modern-style” distillery.
The property changed hands a few times over the next decade, but the only sale that mattered was the one that occurred in 1869. It was then that (Kentucky) Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., purchased the distillery and named it O.F.C (Old Fashioned Copper) as a nod to his belief in the old-fashioned way of doing things. Col Taylor’s work both before & during the Civil War, allowed him to amass quite a fortune. He would soon invest over $70,000 of this fortune towards modernizing his new distillery.
Though he believed in an old-school approach, Taylor was sufficiently forward-thinking that he was dubbed the Father of the Modern Bourbon Industry for the diverse innovations he brought to the distillery, including copper fermentation tanks, state-of-the-art grain equipment, column stills, a more efficient sour mash technique and a steam heating system. Despite this expertise, O.F.C had some money troubles and was purchased by (actual) General George T. Stagg in 1878.
At the turn of the 20th century, OFC – which would soon be under the leadership of one Albert B. Blanton – was rechristened as the George T. Stagg Distillery. Blanton, who joined the company when he was just 16, guided the distillery through the tumultuous first half of the 20th century. He led the George T. Stagg Distillery through two World Wars, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and a devastating flood. He made sure this was one of the few distilleries permitted to continue bottling medicinal whiskey as Prohibition became the law of the land.
When 1933 and the repeal of Prohibition rolled around, the distillery was one of only four in Kentucky capable of producing whiskey and they pursued an aggressive expansion strategy. Over the next 60 years, the operation laid the groundwork to become one of the biggest operations in the American Whiskey business.
While many people think it’s much older, the name Buffalo Trace wasn’t officially adopted until 1999. Not long after that, the flagship brand bottle was launched. The following year, Buffalo Trace became the first American distillery to win Whisky Advocate’s “Distillery of the Year.”
In 2013, the distillery was named a National Historic Landmark and they built the world’s first experimental warehouse. They continue to produce some of the world’s most renowned bourbon lines including the flagship namesake, Blanton’s – the world’s first single barrel bourbon – and Pappy Van Winkle.
The Products
Want to grab a fun Buffalo Trace product to try on your own? It won’t be easy, but here are two of my favorites:
Elmer T. Lee
Elmer T. Lee was a master distiller and a pioneer in the bourbon industry. He was born in 1919 in Kentucky and began working at the George T. Stagg Distillery in 1949. He worked his way up to become the distillery’s master distiller and oversaw the production of some of the most iconic bourbons in history.
In honor of Elmer T. Lee’s contributions to the bourbon industry, Buffalo Trace Distillery released a bourbon named after him. Elmer T. Lee Bourbon is a single-barrel bourbon that is made from a mash bill of corn, rye, and malted barley, and is aged for around 12 years in charred oak barrels. It is a smooth and well-balanced bourbon with notes of caramel, vanilla, and oak, and has a slightly spicy finish.
Elmer T. Lee Bourbon has received numerous awards and accolades, and is highly sought after by bourbon enthusiasts and collectors. Each bottle is marked with the barrel number and date of bottling, indicating the uniqueness of each barrel and the limited production of this bourbon. Unfortunately, Elmer T. Lee passed away in 2013, but his legacy continues to live on through the bourbon that bears his name.
Stagg Jr.
Stagg Jr. Bourbon is a younger and more affordable version of Buffalo Trace’s George T. Stagg. Naturally, it is named after General George T. Stagg.
Stagg Jr. Bourbon is made from a mash bill of corn, rye, and malted barley, and is aged for a shorter period of time than George T. Stagg Bourbon, typically around 8-9 years. It is also a high-proof bourbon, with an average alcohol by volume (ABV) of around 65%, similar to its older counterpart. The aging process and high alcohol content give Stagg Jr. Bourbon a bold and robust flavor profile, with notes of caramel, vanilla, and spice.
Despite being a younger and more affordable bourbon, Stagg Jr. has received high praise and awards from whiskey enthusiasts and experts. It is considered to be a high-quality bourbon that offers a great balance of flavor, complexity, and value. Each batch of Stagg Jr. Bourbon is unique, with slightly different flavor characteristics, as Buffalo Trace uses different barrels and barrel positions to create each batch.