Buffalo Trace Distillery

America's oldest continuously operating distillery, producing some of Kentucky's most celebrated bourbons

Buffalo Trace sits on the north bank of the Kentucky River, about a mile from downtown Frankfort, and claims to be the oldest continuously operating distillery in the United States — records show distilling on this site since 1775. The campus of brick warehouses, rickhouses, and production buildings is a National Historic Landmark, and the free guided tours take you through the full bourbon-making process, from grain milling to barrel aging in the cathedral-like rick houses.

The distillery produces Buffalo Trace itself, along with Blanton's (the world's first commercially sold single-barrel bourbon), Eagle Rare, W.L. Weller, and the famously scarce Pappy Van Winkle. Tastings are included in the tour. Book ahead — tours fill up, especially at weekends.

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A story
The site takes its name from a trail worn into the earth by vast herds of buffalo crossing the Kentucky River at this point — a path so well-established that early settlers used it as a road. Distilling began here in 1775, and the distillery continued operating through Prohibition by obtaining a government licence to produce "medicinal whiskey."

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