Yesterday, December 15th, Buffalo Trace Distillery rolled out their 8,000,000th barrel since Prohibition.
This milestone barrel arrived in record time for the historic distillery, replacing the 7 millionth barrel only four years later (previously, it had taken the distillery an average of 12 years).
Governor Andy Beshear was in attendance and said, “I am thrilled to celebrate this incredible milestone with Buffalo Trace Distillery. This company has more than 200 years of history in our state, providing quality jobs for Kentuckians and producing our world-famous bourbon. Thank you to the leaders at Buffalo Trace for their continued commitment to the commonwealth and our people. Here’s to 200 more years of success in our state.”
Master distiller, Harlen Wheatley, also spoke and shared that the distillery intends to hit 9 million barrels very soon. Harlen said, “Over the past few years, we’ve doubled our fermenters, added more grain cookers and more barrel warehouses, all in an effort to make more bourbon.” He added, “We’ve filled a record number of barrels every year, as evidence by how fast we moved from the seventh millionth barrel to the eighth. Now that we have our new still house starting up, we’ll be able to double the output of our whiskey production, so we’re going to be reaching 9 million barrels before you know it!”
According to Buffalo Trace, the seventh millionth barrel has been moved from Warehouse V to one of their larger warehouses to continue aging. It will be bottled in a few years and offered to various nonprofit organizations.
Congratulations, Buffalo Trace Distillery!
You can read more about it here.
Image via Governor Andy Beshear.
