See inside Buffalo Trace expansion: While others cut back, ‘we could still make more’
Even as at least one Kentucky bourbon maker is contracting, another is expanding.
Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort has just completed a 10-year $1.2 billion expansion that doubled its distilling capacity and has filled dozens of new bourbon warehouses, including some 100 miles away.
Isn’t Buffalo Trace worried the same factors — over-production, slipping sales, impending tariffs — that are impacting others in the whiskey industry including Brown-Forman, which announced layoffs Jan. 14, could hurt its brands too?
In a word: No.
Buffalo Trace’s whiskeys are in such demand that even with all the growth they still can’t keep up.
“Fortunately, and unfortunately, each and every brand is still on allocation,” said Harlen Wheatley, master distiller at Buffalo Trace. “We still could make more ... and sell more. We’re just getting started.”
What’s new at Buffalo Trace Distillery?
The Kentucky bourbon maker, which is owned by New Orleans-based company Sazerac, has been at work since 2015 overhauling everything from the grist mill to the boilers to the water treatment plant and everything in between.
The project includes:
- a new robotic distribution center
- new bottling operation
- expanded visitors center
- new boiler house and three additional steam boilers
- new dry house
- new mill house
- upgraded cistern with three new 75,000-gallon cisterns
- 20 additional fermenters
- four new cookers.
The project was not universally popular: Plans to add more warehouses in Franklin County were scrapped and are still on hold in Anderson County over concerns about whiskey fungus.
So Buffalo Trace looked south to Laurel County, where they own a cooperage, and last year added 200 acres for new bourbon barrel warehouses. They have built 10 and filled eight so far.
Over the last decade they essentially built a new distillery inside the historic old one in Frankfort, one piece at a time, gradually ramping up production and finishing in January 2025.
Now, working around the clock seven days a week, they are filling a new 58,800-barrel warehouse every two months, Wheatley said. Sometime this spring, the distillery will fill its 9 millionth barrel.
What will they do with all that whiskey?
Is Kentucky bourbon, Buffalo Trace popular overseas?
“We’re continuing to expand our legacy brands, and looking at the current market where there are opportunities ... especially globally,” he said.
Buffalo Trace is not widely exported yet, he said. But that is changing.
Last year, Buffalo Trace opened a store in London (England, not Kentucky) and now has a distributor in Australia. The company also is making inroads in China, where they now have a full-time salesperson, Wheatley said.
Their biggest overseas play so far? India, which is the world’s largest whisky market by volume.
Sazerac owns the single-malt whisky distillery Paul John in Goa, and is now importing Buffalo Trace products there to a growing fan base.
“India’s pretty big for us. That’s probably our biggest market” outside the U.S., he said.
Like other distillers, Buffalo Trace has concerns about the potential impact of new tariffs on exports, he said. They are watching carefully to see what happens under President Trump in the new term.
Still a high demand for Weller, Blanton’s, Pappy Van Winkle bourbon?
But, he said, sales in America are still so strong for the flagship brand as well as premium and ultra premium labels including Weller, Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Pappy Van Winkle and others that they feel confident any excess will sell.
And Wheatley said if they have to hold bourbon in the barrels longer than expected that can be a valuable prospect as well.
“People always want Pappy 20 Year Old Whiskey. Well, 20 years ago, you didn’t want the 20-year-old whiskey. We took a leap of faith when we produced that for sales in 20 years,” he said. “And we do that every year. One of the keys is to have a good variety to use that whiskey in, from a 3-year-old to a 20-year-old.”
To that end, Buffalo Trace has ventured into new labels: Last year’s launch of Traveller Whiskey with Kentucky country music superstar Chris Stapleton is the fastest growing new launch of a whiskey ever, Wheatley said, winning awards and new fans.
“All of this expansion, this production is for the future,” Wheatley said. “We’re excited to show people our expansion and all the things we’ve been doing to try to keep up with demand and make more whiskey.”
So when will people see more on the shelves?
“They are, they just don’t realize it,” he said. “Ten years ago, we were making about 150,000 barrels a year. ... We just doubled capacity and can make a couple thousand barrels a day now. ... There’s more every year. ... You should be able to find Buffalo Trace on the shelf more often. I hope that you have a tough time for a while because that means our demand is still strong. But we’re making more and shipping more every day.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
