Exploring Buffalo Trace and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Traveling the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a must-see destination for lovers of bourbon. There are 18 major distilleries clustered in and around the Louisville / Lexington, Kentucky area offering a glimpse of their operation and a chance to snag some rare bottles of bourbon.

Doing the entire trail at one time would take a week, which might be a bit much to ask if your travel partners are fans. The trail’s website offers you some excellent tools for planning your visit to the region, which might work for you. For us, it was a matter of quality and not quantity for planning out our visit.

Inside Buffalo Trace Kentucky Bourbon Trail

If you have a specific favorite brand of bourbon, like we do, then the obvious thing to do is make sure you visit that distillery. For us, that meant that we were planning our visit to the Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Located just about in the middle between Louisville and Lexington near Kentucky’s state capital in Frankfort, Buffalo Trace is conveniently located near major highways and hotels. Much like the scenery surrounding the distillery, Buffalo Trace is a picturesque destination with a well stocked bar.

They are one of the most historic stops on the bourbon trail, with the site being listed on the National Historic Landmark. But don’t think this place is a museum. It is a fully functioning distillery, where it is not uncommon to find barrels of that alcohol rolling down the street. 

Complimentary Tastings

Buffalo Trace tour offerings vary with several different types of tours, and every tour comes with a complimentary tasting. Even if you’re not a fan of bourbon, we recommend the tasting. In addition to various bourbons, they offer samplings of their vodka, bourbon cream and non-alcoholic root beer. Insider tip, mix the bourbon cream and root beer for one of the best tasting root beer floats you’ve ever tried.

Two of the more common tours offered are the hard hat tour and the Trace tour. The hard hat tour at Buffalo Trace is a behind the scenes tour of the distillery including details on the entire process that bourbon goes through. The Trace tour lets you see the entire historic grounds and is a great introductory tour for someone that hasn’t been to a distillery before. 

All tours and tastings are free of charge, though reservations are strongly suggested, and likely required during peak times if you want to tour. Reservations blocks are released well in advance, so if you know when you are planning to go make sure you go to the website early and get that reservation. Tour reservations go quickly.

The Trace Tour

We did the Trace tour, and we loved touring the grounds and seeing the various buildings. Our tour guide did a great job of telling the history of Buffalo Trace, while explaining the industry to the group. The tour takes you about an hour, and finishes off at the tasting area which is just above the gift shop.

Our first visit, we were advised to arrive around 8AM, with the distillery opening at 9AM. When we arrived, the line was already long but once they open up, it moves quickly. They are open to visitors of all ages, but anyone wishing to buy alcohol must register which is what the long line is for.

Each day, Buffalo Trace offers visitors a chance to buy a bottle of one of their hard to find brands. Just before 9AM each day, they announce on the website what is being offered that day. Because of the registration, they can track which brands you’ve purchased. They limit you to one bottle per brand every 90 days. 

They rotate brands each day, typically between Blanton’s, Weller’s, E. H. Taylor and Eagle Rare. Sazerac and their vodka brand are available every day. There is a website that tracks the daily offerings, which can be a good tool to help plan your visit. Worth noting, you do not need to tour the distillery to by the special offerings.

Beyond the drink offerings, Buffalo Trace has some great gifts for fans of their products. Shirts, hats and various other items are available for all of the brands that they produce.

We’ve visited a couple of times trying to snag some Blanton’s. Unfortunately we haven’t had great timing for that, but we’ve still not been disappointed with our harvest. There is plenty of good beverages beyond the allocated features to help stock your bar back at home.

If you’re hungry, they do have a restaurant on the property. Firehouse Sandwich Shop, which is run by a local BBQ restaurant, offers sandwiches and outdoor dining Wednesday through Sunday.

Planning Your Visit

Buffalo Trace is open year round, offering tours and tastings 9AM to 5PM Monday through Saturday, and 11AM to 5PM on Sunday. They are closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and close early on Christmas Eve. 

If you’re planning a visit, here are a few things to consider: plan ahead. We were online at 9AM on the day our tour tickets become available, and they were sold out. They go that quick! The people at the gift shop, via email and phone calls were very attentive and helped get us the time we needed, so they are as flexible as they can be.

The line starts forming early so be prepared. If you are in line and your tour is coming up, you will be allowed to jump the line to make sure you are at your tour on time. Should you be there hoping to score some allocated offerings like we tried for Blanton’s, don’t worry about them selling out. Not saying it can’t happen, but when we’ve there they had plenty of stock to take care of anyone that stopped by that day.

They are serious about the 90 day rule per brand. If you are planning to buy and have already purchased that brand within that time frame, you will be denied. They have plenty of parking. The line forms in the main parking lot, but they have secondary lots nearby. There is a lot of walking on these tours, and standing around while you are in line. Some of the terrain is uneven especially when they take you into some of the older rack houses. And in those same rack houses, space can be a little tight with low ceilings.

There are many places worth stopping on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Perhaps we’re a little biased, but we think Buffalo Trace is one of the best bourbon tours in Kentucky, and aa great place to start your adventure.

Have you been to Buffalo Trace, or perhaps one of the other distilleries along this trail? Let us know! We’d love to hear about your adventure and compare with our adventures.