Buffalo Trace Issues Update on State of Whiskey After Historic Flood

With roots that date back to the 1700s, Buffalo Trace loves to brag about being America’s oldest continuously operating distillery. Not like it needs to.

The legendary name behind Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Pappy van Winkle and its own beloved house brand serves up some of the most prestigious whiskey in the land, made all the more coveted due to the fact that its bottles distribute “on allocation.” This means that, unlike other brands, Buffalo Trace only sends so many bottles to each state per year.

Photo by Chandler Bondurant for Gear Patrol

So when the distillery, which sits along the Kentucky River, flooded in early April, the whiskey world collectively took a deep breath.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

Buffalo Trace Distillery sits right along the banks of Kentucky River in Frankfort, which has a long history of flooding.

However, heavy downpours in early April saw the river crest to 48.2 feet — the second-highest on record and bested only by a flood in 1978.

This caused large parts of the Buffalo Trace campus to become fully submerged, with aerial photos showing cars and entire building swallowed up by floodwater.

Buffalo Trace Distillery

The distillery swiftly closed its doors, ceasing both operation and tours.

But as of April 11, Buffalo Trace confirmed that flood waters had completely receded and that cleanup and recovery efforts were already underway, along with barrel inspection by its whiskey-making team.

Was any whiskey affected?

In a press release issued on April 11, Buffalo Trace committed to inspecting every single barrel “touched by the flood.” It also underscored the thoroughness of that process, meaning that the full extent of damage won’t be known for “several weeks.”

That said, the distillery did confirm that “any loss of barrels is not expected to be meaningful.”

“A lot of heart and soul goes into every product we make, which is why our team is dedicated to testing with heavy scrutiny each barrel possibly affected by flood waters to ensure there are no issues,” said master distiller Harlen Wheatley.

“We have never, nor will we ever, compromise on the quality or safety of the whiskey we make,” Wheatley added.

According to Jake Wenz, the distillery’s CEO and president, Buffalo Trace has already resumed shipping of its finished whiskey, with bottling scheduled to resume next next week.

The upshot

Though parts of the distillery remain closed, with tourism to the campus likely affected for the foreseeable future, Buffalo Trace’s latest update is about as positive as whiskey fans could hope for.

Whiskey production takes years, and any significant damage to warehouses can alter the course of a distillery — or, in the case of America’s oldest whiskey maker, an entire industry already in decline.

A fire in 1996, for example, nearly wiped out Heaven Hill after destroying over 100,000 barrels.

Buffalo Trace Distillery

The good news is that Buffalo Trace will continue to roll on, and any disruptions to its production and distribution are not likely to be felt by fans of its award-winning whiskey.

If anything, it should only get easier to find bottles of Blanton’s and Eagle Rare in the future, considering Buffalo Trace recently opened a new stillhouse and announced it was effectively doubling production.

Like most things in whiskey, however, the complete ripple effect of expanded production, not to mention this recent flood, will continue to be a game of wait and see.

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