It’s Official: Buffalo Trace Distillery Commissions New Still & Doubles Bourbon Whiskey Production Capacity

To the chagrin of bourbon fans when the plans came together it seems like a backward process. Buffalo Trace would start with the end game in mind and work their way backwards from bottling to distillation. In other words, they started with improved bottling processing and capacity in 2015 and 2019 and just this week wrapped up the latest phase with increased production capacity with the ribbon cutting for their new 84 inch (that’s 7’ feet) by 40-foot-tall beer still.

Buffalo Trace Cuts the Ribbon on Massive New Still, Doubling Whiskey Capacity

After nearly a decade of planning the doubling of distillation capacity is now a reality as Buffalo Trace Distillery officially commissioned their new still. Whether you call it science or superstition Buffalo Trace took their existing 84” wide by 40’ tall Vendome Copper & Brass Works column still and duplicated it. You see, the new column is a mirror image of the 67-year-old beer still that was put into production in 1956. As Thermaltech Engineering Principle Kyle Leahman pointed out at the ribbon cutting, the still is basically the same except the old one had about 10 to 15 sensors vs. the new one that has 100+ sensors to monitor its progress during distillation.

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“It was March of 2019 that we had our first meeting about the still house,” explained Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley. “The still house is really important of course because the equipment that we put it, has to make whiskey like we know how to make it. We want it to be consistent, we don’t want any change because we are happy with the whiskey. So, the hard part is to make the same whiskey. We went off and figured out a way to do that. We’ve been running the new still for a couple months now, on and off testing things and now its in full production. We have a few loose ends to tie up, but we are in full production. “We are making over 60,000 gallons a day, it’s a 7’ diameter still. It’s an exact match of our old still that was put in in 1956. And that still, I always say, it’s like driving a 1956 Chevy. You start it up in Frankfort to drive to California. You gas it up and turn around and drive it back to Frankfort. You gas it up and drive it back to California. This 1956 is running every single day and it needed some help. So, now we have the 2022 version up and running side by side and we are going to make a lot of really great whiskey for our fans. We have no plans of slowing down. “We also have another phase. This is just phase 2. We have another phase to continue to expand. Phase 4 is to actually build a whole new distillery somewhere else.” Now that the new still is online whiskey making at Buffalo Trace is entering a new era with double the capacity. The two stills combined can produce 120,000 gallons of whiskey a day of fan favorites such as Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Weller, Blanton’s, E.H. Taylor Jr., and the rest of the whiskies in its portfolio. Buffalo Trace Distillery President and CEO Mark Brown provided a timeline to help put all this in perspective. Brown said, “And I think this is important, the journey we’ve been on since the highs of 1974 when we made 204,000 barrels… to the crash, by the time we got to 1992 where we only made 12,000 barrels. To the incredible rebirth, today, this year, we’ll make 200,000 barrels again. And by the time we get another four years out we are going to make 550,000 barrels in a single year. “Reflecting back on the history of this distillery, the progress we’ve made over the past few decades is astounding, but even more impressive is the dedication and longevity of so many of our team members.” The distillery now employs more than 650 people at the Frankfort location.