Here’s how to buy Buffalo Trace premium bourbon bottles at the best price

One of bourbon collecting’s biggest secrets isn’t really a secret at all: If you’re an early riser and willing to wait in line, you can buy a premium bottle any day of the week.

Where’s this secret buying spot? Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.

Every day, Buffalo Trace releases one of their coveted allocated whiskeys in the gift shop. The gift shop is open at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day but Sunday, when it’s open at 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. They also post what is available for sale at the distillery online, under gift shop product availability, updating the website daily with what bottles are sold out.

The gates at the distillery usually open two hours before the gift shop does and weekends are usually busier than weekdays. And there are lines (“snakes,” as the fans call them) most mornings well before the doors open.

People line up for a shot at buying something that they might not be able to get elsewhere, at least at reasonable prices.

In fact, that’s one reason people line up for Blanton’s Single Barrel, Weller Special Reserve and the other premium Kentucky bourbons: To resell them for a profit. But the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Department has been cracking down on some sales like at popular retailers Justins’ House of Bourbon and Doc Crow’s.

What premium bourbons are on sale?

The distillery releases Weller Special Reserve, E.H. Taylor Jr. Small Batch, Eagle Rare, and Blanton’s Single Barrel on shelves for retail prices. And where they are gone, they’re gone.

There is one big catch: You can only buy one bottle of each allocated label at a time every 90 days.

So once you get a bottle of Blanton’s at the distillery, you’re in what collectors call “bourbon jail” for three months.

The gift shop also sells Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Bourbon Cream, Sazerac Rye and Wheatley Vodka and you can buy multiple bottles of each, up to 12 in total (including any allocated release bottle.)

To purchase bottles, you must be 21 and have proof of ID (driver’s license.)

Checking on lines, bottle predictions

You can also check out the website Buffalo Trace Daily at buffalotracedaily.com and its Facebook group, which has more than 55,000 members. The website, which is not affiliated with the Kentucky distillery, tracks what gets released each day and posts odds of what will be coming next. Members of the Facebook group often post updates on the state of the line and whether or not there are still bottles left on shelves to buy.

There are other options, including specialty bourbon stores that sell bottles sometimes purchased from people who’ve waited in those distillery lines, but the prices are generally much higher.

Happy hunting!

This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 10:00 AM.

Janet Patton

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-379-5233

Janet Patton covers restaurants, bars, food and bourbon for the Herald-Leader. She is an award-winning business reporter who also has covered agriculture, gambling, horses and hemp. Support my work with a digital subscription