Where does your Bourbon really come from?

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Click the link for more info: Bourbon Whiskey Family Tree

Kentuckians like to tell you that 95 percent of the world's bourbon comes from their state. What they won't tell you is that pretty much every last drop of that bourbon comes from a handful of conglomerate distilleries. In this chart—excerpted from The Kings County Distillery Guide to Urban Moonshining, on shelves now—the guys behind Brooklyn's oldest craft distillery parse out, once and for all, the complicated kissing cousins of the bluegrass state's bourbon industry.

BY COLIN SPOELMAN AND DAVID HASKELL

Ten Of The World's Oldest Distilleries!

Who knew the top three aren't even in Scotland. In fact, one of the top three is in the U.S.

Click the link for the complete list: Ten Of The World's Oldest Distilleries!

Buffalo Trace (Elmer T. Lee Collectors Edition)

Whisky Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, American Whiskey

Bottle Size: 750ml

Alcohol by Volume: 45%

Notes: Buffalo Trace Distillery has a long and storied past. About an hour drive east of Louisville Kentucky, it is located on the site of an ancient Buffalo crossing by the Kentucky River. Though the distillery has had many names (Old Stagg Distillery, Ancient Age Distillery) and many owners over the years, it was given it's current name after the Sazerac Company bought the distillery in 1992. It is the oldest continuously operating distillery in the US, and it was officially listed as a National Historic Landmark this year. 

The Buffalo Trace Distillery makes a wide range of Bourbons, from basic mixer brands, to some of the most prized names in the Whiskey business, names like Blanton's, Eagle Rare, and Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbons, George T. Stagg and Handcock's Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbons, Pappy Van Winkle and W.L. Weller Wheated Bourbons, and Sazerac and Tomas H. Handy Rye Whiskeys, just to name a few!

This review will cover the standard bearer for the company, Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, introduced in 1999. It is made from a proprietary mash bill of at least 51% corn, rye and malted barley, and aged in new charred oak barrels for 9 years. 25 to 30 barrels are hand selected and blended for bottling in batches. 

Nose: Honey, Wrigley's Spearmint, and orange peal.

Taste: Orange, cinnamon, and buttery vanilla cake batter.

Finish: Vanilla and a touch of butterscotch linger.

My Personal Ranking: 81/100

Buffalo Trace Distillery Tour pictures

Buffalo Trace Distillery, recently named a National Historic Landmark.

The Buffalo statue in front of the Visitor's Center. The Distillery is located next to the Kentucky river, in a location that used to be an ancient buffalo crossing.

One of many brick and mortar warehouses. You can see the barrels in the open windows!

The Buffalo Trace Distillery water tower.

Another angle on the distillery's iconic water tower.

Those tracks aren't for trains, they're for rolling barrels in and out of the various warehouses. 

Another warehouse for aging barrels of whiskey. There are more barrels of whiskey aging in warehouses in Kentucky, than there are people living in the Bluegrass State! 

The curious barrels of experimental "Peated Malt" I saw during our tour. 

Banners hanging from the roof of the bottling house, listing just some of the awards this distillery has earned in recent years. 

Our knowledgeable tour guide. Oh to have the keys to this cabinet! There's some rare Bourbons in there that would be the envy of any whiskey collector, including rare bottles of Blanton's, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, and Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel. Sadly, Elmer's death was announced just days after our tour of this Distillery his hard work, dedication and innovation, made famous!

Buffalo Trace Peated Malt?

This was taken during a recent visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery, at the end of a tour of their facility. As you can see, the barrel is marked "Experimental", and it was only filled last year, so it might be years, if ever, before we see a peated malt whiskey from Buffalo Trace, but it is a curious sight!

Buffalo Trace Distillery named National Historic Landmark

Link to the original story; Buffalo Trace Distillery named National Historic Landmark

 By Janet Patton — jpatton1@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Buffalo Trace's George T. Stagg Distillery has been named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

The designation highlights it as a "highly intact" example of pre-Prohibition industrial architecture that also shows how distilling expanded once the federal ban was repealed in the early 1930s.

The buildings, which still are very much in active use, feature distinctive quarry-faced stonework and decorative brickwork in a 1930s-era factory; other barrel warehouses and buildings are much older, dating to the 1790s.

According to the National Park Service, the distillery was established in 1857-58 and acquired in 1870 by E.H. Taylor Jr., whose portrait hangs in the yeast room. Taylor refurbished the distillery, building brick warehouses including Warehouse C, across from the current Buffalo Trace gift shop.

The site also includes what is known as the George Dickel building along the Kentucky River, where a Tennessee whiskey called George Dickel was made after Prohibition in the 1940s until Tennessee finally was allowed to make alcohol again.

Very little new construction has been done since 1953, with the exception of removing railroad tracks, demolishing the original offices, and building spirits storage tanks for the booming bourbon business.

One feature not likely to be found at many modern factories: an Adirondack-style log cabin, complete with hammered copper sinks, that was used as an employee clubhouse. Buffalo Trace uses it now for receptions and dinners.

The distillery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, but the new honor already has drawn attention.

The National Geographic Channel show Diggers, which features amateur scientists hunting artifacts with metal detectors, found the distillery on the list and has filmed an episode there, said Buffalo Trace spokeswoman Amy Preske.

Buffalo Trace is at least the third distillery to be named a National Historic Landmark, along with Labrot & Graham's Old Oscar Pepper Distillery near Versailles, where Woodford Reserve is made today, and the Burks' Distillery, owned by Maker's Mark, in Loretto.

Kentucky has more than 30 landmarks on the list, including Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate and Keeneland Race Course in Lexington and Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg.

The honor comes with a plaque and a nice sign by the road to alert tourists.

Not that they seem to be having too much trouble finding the place: Preske said Buffalo Trace expects to see 80,000 visitors this year.

This year's Kentucky Oaks Day, May 3, before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, was the distillery's single biggest day for tourism, with 1,800 visitors, she said.

Employees of the distillery were told officially of the designation last week and given special T-shirts in celebration.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/06/23/2690145/buffalo-trace-distillery-named.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/06/23/2690145/buffalo-trace-distillery-named.html#storylink=cpy

The Passing of Elmer T. Lee

A true whiskey innovator has passed! Rest in peace Mr. Lee.

Official statement from The Buffalo Trace Distillery:

Dear Friends,

It is with a very heavy heart that I share with you that our beloved Master Distiller Emeritus Elmer T. Lee, 93, passed away July 16, 2013 after a short illness.

In the world of making really fine whiskey the role of Master Distiller is pivotal, but Elmer’s meaning to those he met, came to know, and worked with closely extended far beyond that of a Master Distiller. Elmer defined, in the simplest terms, what it means to be a great American – hard working, self-made, courageous, honest, kind, humble, and humorous.

Elmer was born in 1919 on a tobacco farm near Peaks Mill in Franklin County, Ky. He graduated from Frankfort County High School in 1936 and worked for Jarman Shoe Company until December 1941. He then served with the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II as a radar bombardier on a B-29. After flying missions against Japan through 1945, Elmer was honorably discharged in January 1946. He returned home and studied engineering at the University of Kentucky, where he graduated with honors in 1949.

In September 1949 Elmer began working in the engineering department of the George T. Stagg Distillery in Frankfort. In 1966, Elmer was promoted to plant superintendent, responsible for all plant operations and reporting to the plant manager. 1n 1969, he became plant manager.

But it was in 1984 that Elmer’s contribution to the bourbon industry gained him the most notoriety, when he introduced Blanton’s, the world’s first Single Barrel Bourbon.  Elmer retired in 1985 but continued to serve as an ambassador for Buffalo Trace, and in 1986 he was honored with his very own single barrel bourbon, Elmer T. Lee. Of course, for those of us who knew Elmer, he never really retired. Every Tuesday we could see Elmer making his rounds at the Distillery in his trademark cap, signing bottles, posters, and other memorabilia at the Gift Shop, visiting his friends in Blanton’s Bottling Hall, and tasting bourbons (for quality control purposes!) in the lab.

Elmer was always ready to offer advice, and was a wealth of information that many of us relied on, myself included. Harlen Wheatley would inquire with Elmer when stuck on a mechanical problem, and any historical questions about the Distillery always went to Elmer, who, with his razor sharp memory, could invariably answer.  To all of us, Elmer was a friend, a mentor, and a trusted advisor.

Elmer was known through the bourbon industry for his expertise and knowledge about bourbon whiskey and he received numerous awards and recognition, including induction into the Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2001, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Whisky Advocate in 2002, and the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hall of Fame induction from Whisky Magazine in 2012.

We have lost a wonderful friend today, and he will be missed terribly. 

Services for Elmer T. Lee are pending and will be announced shortly.

Sincerely, Mark Brown

http://www.kybourbon.com/index.php/statement_regarding_the_passing_of_elmer_t._lee