While in Frankfort we headed to the Buffalo Trace Distillery which offers free tours and thus isn’t on the bourbon trail but is in the area. They offer free hour-long tours for all ages on Monday-Saturday from 9-4pm and Sundays 12-3pm. They leave on the hour so try to arrive early. We didn’t arrive in time for the last tour and instead just wandered into the visitor center and found we could still do a free tasting. This led us up to the second floor which was a big open space with historical information along the walls and a bar in the center. We were led to one side of the bar where we ended up with a private tasting.
We chatted with the worker and got to pick what we wanted to try. We could only pick two things (due to legal reasons, bourbon is strong after all) and decided to go for the bourbon (Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Eagle Rare Bourbon) instead of the vodka (Wheatley Vodka) which is something else they made. We were also given a bourbon ball and some of their bourbon cream both of which were delightful. They also had root beer on hand if anyone didn’t want or couldn’t have bourbon. We mixed it with the bourbon cream. It was a lot less formal than Woodford Reserve but informative and relaxed.
Buffalo Trace opened in 1792 and was open during the prohibition, still making alcohol but less, and only for prescriptions which were essentially to make Hot Toddies. Buffalo trace is open from 9am until 5:30pm Monday through Saturday and Sunday’s 12-5pm. Even if you don’t make it for the tour head to the tasting section and their staff will happily fill you in on the history of Buffalo Trace and their products. But if you do have time check out their tour, they are free after all.