Buffalo Trace Distillery History
Honor Tradition, Embrace Change
Throughout the challenges of floods, fires, tornadoes and even Prohibition, the American family-owned Buffalo Trace Distillery has never compromised. A timeless dedication to respecting the past while fearlessly innovating for the future has served us well for more than two centuries. No matter the challenge, be it Mother Nature or man, the people of our Distillery have been part of the story that shaped America and the spirit industry as well.
1771 - 1899
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1771
Daniel Boon passes through Lee's town on the Buffalo Trace
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1773
McAfee brothers and Hancock Taylor survey the Lee's Town site; Kentucky is known as Fincastle County, part of Virginia
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1792
Kentucky becomes the 15th state in the Union
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1792
Commodore Richard Taylor builds "The Old Taylor House"; the one-story stone house is still on the site today
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1811
A three-story stone warehouse is built on the Kentucky River near Riverside to store goods.
This included many barrels of whiskey, awaiting shipment to as far away as New Orleans; Benjamin Harrison Blanton is said to distill on site in upcoming years
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1858
A small but up-to-date distillery is developed by Daniel Swigert using warehouse and Riverside site
1900 - Present Day
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1900
The Gilded Age ends and Albert B. Blanton is appointed as Still House, Warehouse and Bottling Superintendent
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1904
The Distillery is re-christened as the George T. Stagg Distillery
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1919
The 18th Amendment establishing Prohibition in Jan. 1920 is ratified and the Volstead Act is passed to guide its enforcement.
Distillery is one of very few to receive permit to bottle medicinal whiskey and even fewer permitted to produce new whiskey from 1930 to 1933
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1921
Albert B. Blanton becomes President of the George T. Stagg Distillery
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1929
The Distillery is purchased by Schenley Distillers Corporation
PRESENT DAY
As the next chapter of Buffalo Trace Distillery unfolds, we remain proud of our heritage as well as excited to boldly blaze new trails.