In April 2014 KWA went “overseas” to explore what is considered to be the capital state of bourbon, i. e. Kentucky. Our first goal on this trip was Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, a distillery which we think might be the very best of them all. With brands such as Rock Hill Farms, Eagle Rare, Ancient Age, Blanton´s, W L Weller, Sazerac, Old Charter, Hancock´s, George T Stagg, Elmer T Lee and Van Winkle it comes as no surprise that Buffalo Trace often has been awarded for its high-quality products.
The names on the distillery have been many: OFC (Old Fire Cooper) distillery, Stagg, Schenky, Ancient Age, Leestown and now Buffalo Trace. Once upon a time a successful gold digger by the name of Benjamin Blanton went back to Leestown and bought a farm called ”Rock Hill Farm”. Near the village he started making whiskey, but already in 1865 he decided to increase his business and built a distillery on the place where Buffalo Trace is today.
On our visit we spent a couple of hours with Freddie on “the Bourbon Barrel Tour” and about an hour with Jeff on “the Hard Hat Tour” Very interesting to listen to these two experts who seemed to know everything worth knowing about bourbon. On the tastings we tried Wheatley Vodka, Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Bourbon Cream. Fair enough, but no favorites of ours! Later on during our visit we would be lucky to try some better brands from Buffalo Trace!
