That will pay for new barrel warehouses and to relocate the bottling operation is relocated to make room for distillery expansion with new cookers and fermenters.
Already, Buffalo Trace is finishing up the conversion of two former office buildings back into barrel warehouses, with warehouses “R” and “S” being filled with barrels to age now, and warehouses “T” and “U” completed last year. The two buildings hold a combined 200,000 barrels of aging whiskey, but this is still not enough to meet the growing demand for Buffalo Trace.
In addition to repurposing warehouses, Buffalo Trace is also building new barrel warehouses on the additional 200 acres of farmland it purchased a few years ago. These are the first new barrel warehouses with significant capacity that Buffalo Trace Distillery has built since 1951.
Ground has already been broken on the first warehouse, which will hold more than 55,000 barrels, and completion is expected by the end of this year, with the first barrels planned to be rolled in early 2018. After that, a new warehouse will be built every four months for the next several years.
These new warehouses will each cost about $7 million to build and another $21 million to fill with barrels, making this expansion a significant investment.
Once the bottling hall moves to its old distribution center, the Distillery will install larger cookers and additional fermenters for more bourbon production. Already this summer, bourbon production is scheduled to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the first time in known history.
“This year we plan to match the all-time high of barrel production here at Buffalo Trace, set in 1973,” said Harlen Wheatley, master distiller. “Next year we’ll exceed that and set new production records.”
While Buffalo Trace is preparing for the future, current bourbon inventory remains tight on its flagship bourbon. This shortage will continue for the next few years as demand continues to increase. Brands such as Eagle Rare, W.L. Weller and Blanton’s Single Barrel will see moderate growth. “While we have steadily increased bourbon production over the years, demand for our brands continues to outpace supply,” said Kris Comstock, senior marketing director. “Growth will be modest over the next few years, dictated by the number of barrels filled years ago. Most will be sold in the United States where demand continues to rise.”
Bourbon allocations will continue, as they have for the past few years. Buffalo Trace will continue bourbon allocations monthly across the U.S. to ensure each state receives some every month. “We will not comprise taste nor quality, so rather than empty barrels prematurely, we’ll continue to wait for barrels to mature and allocate bourbon when it’s ready, while increasing production for the future,” added Comstock.