Here Mike Pierce, Lexington local, and I are standing next to a massive mash fermenter at the Buffalo Trace plant. Apparently, it’s super dangerous to fall in for science reasons I forgot — something about not being very buoyant because all of the bubbles…maybe Mike remembers the specifics! The gist is there’s much more sinking than swimming when somebody goes into “the drink.”Buffalo Trace’s Namesake bourbon, its Eagle Rare, which I brought to Ratho Farm with me for our whisky/whiskey dinner, and two sizes of liquid gold Blanton’s Single Barrel. In the front are the eight custom stoppers (collect them all) celebrating Kentucky’s horse racing traditions.Here are closeups of two of the eight stoppers custom made for Blanton’s Rare. For whatever reason, our guide thought I should have the one with the whip! Mike got the jockey in the “martini glass” posture, which transforms the rider, I just learned, from dead weight to more of a suspension system working with the horse. The more you know. About bourbon and horseracing.This is a massive corn chute, which conveys the grain from trucks to where it’s ground up for mash. Super cool to see it on our behind the scenes tour.This is a view of the distillery campus, which has been making whiskey for more than 200 years! It’s a National Historic Landmark and makes close to 20 different brands of spirits, mostly bourbons, including George T. Stagg, Old Fire Copper and Pappy Van Winkle to name a few. It also makes Sazerac Rye and is owned by American billionaire William Goldring’s Sazerac Company based in Metarie, LA. Sazerac bought it in 1992.The company says the name “Buffalo Trace” refers an ancient buffalo crossing on the banks of the Kentucky River in Franklin County, KentuckyFreddie Johnson, whose father worked at Buffalo Trace before him, was a fantastic tour guide for me and for Mike P. So much energy and he knew far more than he could possibly tell us, even on our leisurely multi-hour visit. Thanks, Freddie!
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