My new job means that I have to drive into the organization’s headquarters for training every few months. Training is what it is: 8 hour days of lectures and educational exercises. It’s like being in school all over again. The Department’s headquarters are right next to the Buffalo Trace Distillery. In fact we are in the process of building a new facility since our office space is being reclaimed for more bourbon barrels. My friends and I got out early one of the days so we used our free time to tour the distillery. As you probably know, Kentucky is known for it’s bourbon distilleries. Buffalo Trace is one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in the country. Not even Prohibition could shut this baby down. They managed to get the coveted right to continue to make “medicinal” spirits during Prohibition. It’s also home to a few of the priciest bourbons around, including Blanton’s and the legendary Pappy van Winkle.
Now each barrel is going to taste a little different. The ones pictured above are the are the experimental barrels. Buffalo Trace’s master distiller, Harlen Wheatley, likes to experiment, so some of these are his experiments. (I wish someone had told me that master distiller was an option when I was in high school.) The barrels below will be used to bottle single barrel Blanton’s, W.L. Weller and possibly a Pappy van Winkle.
Next you get to see the guys and gals with the third coolest job at the distillery (the first obviously being the tasters and second being the Master Distiller) the bottlers. These people bottle the single barrel bourbons. They apply the labels by hand. In the case of Blanton’s, which they were bottling while I was there, they even hand write part of the label. It’s amazing to watch. I wish I had gotten pictures of them emptying the barrel and actually pouring the bottles, but I was so fascinated that I forgot all about taking pictures.
