Buffalo Trace Distillery Review

This is a locationfull of history that will only make you appreciate Bourbon that much more. Buffalo Trace is my go to Bourbon for sure!!!

Music loud, Wings should be taken off the menu. I would suggest another restaurant for lunch.

Fantastic tour with incredibly knowledgeable and passionate guides. Don't come here hoping for rarer whiskey; they have no whiskey of any interest in the gift shop.

If you're a bourbon fan, let alone a Buffalo Trace fan, you need to spend some time here. Excellent tour of a real, working bourbon distillery. Would go back to take another tour in a heartbeat. I highly recommend the "Bourbon Barrel" and "Hardhat" tours...see how bourbon is made from grain delivery to bottling. Hard to find bottles are for sale in the gift shop, but make sure you arrive and buy early, as your favourites may have sold out. This was the highlight of my trip to Kentucky.

Saw the signs from the interstate and stopped by. Took the free tour which included the bottling room and warehouses. At the end you get to sample the products. Overall great experience.

This was my second time back. Great story and friendly staff. Lee was our guide and he was great.

Awesome tours - we did the bourbon barrel and hard hat tours and they were a blast. We had some very specific requests for things we wanted to see, and Matt the visitor center manager was very helpful. I learned a lot about the history and the distilling process.

Great place to go tasting and touring (free for both). Fun tour guide (Ray) with lots of bourbon history knowledge. Highly recommend if you're in the area.

Really nice to walk about the facility, we were there near closing but we welcomed in and I had a chance to peruse the gift shop spend lots on whiskey I wouldn't find usually/easily. Would be nice to have a few more options but they got 4 on the shelves to choose from.
Very well set up for Covid times too

Been waiting to deliver a load, appointment time was at 12:00, been waiting over an hour. Their holding area has no rest rooms,

Our tour guide Ashley made an already impressive and interesting distillery downright fun. She was a wonderful tour guide; I highly recommend taking the free tour with her or another guide to really experience the rich history of this historic landmark.

We enjoyed the tour, but should only have bourbon tastings that you have in stock.

Excellent tour, Rick is very knowledgeable about this distillery and the product produced there.
Thank you, my family and I enjoyed the tour very much.

Lived visiting this Distillery. The tour is free and you get to test like five different drinks. Absolutely beautiful place to see. It's definitely a must. Loved the gift shop!

Absolutely amazing tour. Allen rolled out the red carpet for us and more. We loved the experience the history the great stories the tasting and also the bottle of Blanton's they save for us when our tour was over. I have always been a huge fan of Buffalo Trace and this made me an even bigger one. Thank you again!!

Disappointed! My wife and I visited BTD in the afternoon on June 26, 2019 on our way from Tennessee to Wisconsin and was very disappointed with the customer service. We checked in at the visitor center at 2 PM and was told the sandwich shop was closed and to go into town for food. After we found some food, we returned for a tour. The tour guide was knowledgeable but we really didn't see much of the facility. We sat in one building and saw a brief film that was like the virtual tour on their web site. Then stood in a barrel room to see, well, barrels, but could barely hear the tour guide speak. We then walked through a cramped room and viewed bottles being filled with bourbon. Again, we could barely hear the guide. We left the tour and went to the gift shop. We then tried to find t-shirts that were an XL in size--searched all the racks but could not find a single one. We had planned to buy a number for gifts for our friends in WI. We then visited the gift bar to purchase to a few bottles of bourbon but was told that they had "run out of bourbon" and was also told to "attend the distillery earlier next time if we wanted to purchase bourbon". Rude! Needless to say, there will NOT be a "next time ". Disappointed!

I drink. i drink lots. i try many things. Buffalo Trace is the only Bourbon or whiskey that I can do straight. It is sweet, smooth, caramelish and yet buttery..and it mixes well with anything. I rate it higher than the supposed 'betters' and nothing compares to it, not Bakers, or JD, or Jim Beam, or any of those types. It is my go to when I am in the mood for bourbon/whiskey hard liquor.
Try it, you won't regret it. About 25 bucks a bottle here. To be honest, even their 9.25 bottom shelf brand is good, too, for the cost. Stick to this distillery, folks. It is amazing.

For the bourbon guys and gals this is heaven. Saw Chad and Sara if you know then you're in the know

This place is wonderful. The staff is friendly and helpful. The bourbon is delicious and they allow dogs to visit. Plus it's all free. All the distilleries should take note. I'll send all my friends there!

Our tour guide Jim was fun and informative. The entire experience was exceptional. Must do this!! #1 tour in my book!!

Our tour guide Freddie was awesome! He knew the history and was informative, polite and entertaining. I have visited with family members several times but this was one of our best experinces!
Great Job Freddie!

We loved this place. Great historic buildings, and very friendly staff. They offer free tastings.
We ended up buying quite a few items in their gift shop because of the great experience!

The Trace Tour was interesting and our guide, Freddie did an excellent job with the tasting, certainly an experience I was glad to have done.

My husband and I did the hard hat tour and had a blast.. can t wait to di other tours!!!

Tour is great and still free. Don t get to see much but with the time.

A free tour and free booze
The tour was Educational and had depth to it, all around it was a fun time!

All the plants and decorations around the property reflect the employees efforts. When times are slow, rather than laying off employees, Buffalo Trace asks them to contribute their creative flair. Our tour guide's great grandfather and grandfather worked with the original founders. Freddie had a wealth of knowledge. Knowing what I do now, rather than miss Freddie's colorful narration, I'd come back at a later time for an opportunity to hear Freddie share the history. The rootbeer in the gift shop is named after Freddie!

Had a corporate team building event here and it was everything we hoped. The history alone is incredible. Even if you're not a bourbon fan, the stories of ingenuity, entrepreneurship and the art behind making it, is worth it. Did the Trace tour and also booked the newer E.H. Taylor tour. Highly recommend the Taylor tour. Entering one of the original still houses in America that was buried for nearly 80 years was amazing. Dress comfortable and prepare to walk a little bit. Worth every minute.

Freddie gave us the best bourbon tasting I ve ever had. He was knowledable and hilarious, accommodated us on a tight schedule and still was the best tasting we had out of all the distilleries we visited. Freddie you re the man!

A must do get there and see a great tour as well as the people

Nice tour. They make a number of different bourbons here. There is a good video, and you get to see some of their storage and bottling facilities. There are a few samples at the end of the tour. Good as an intro into bourbon, but if you are really interested, opt for one of the reservation required hard hat tours.

The historic grounds are beautifully kept. The gift shop has a wide variety of apparel, memorabilia, and bourbon. What kept me from giving 5 stars was that we couldn't get a drink anywhere without a tasting. I would have loved to enjoy an old fashion while shopping and waiting for my tour.

Visiting the area one can not afford to skip this Distillery. Well worth the effort to go during the week day and take the tour. Gain some knowledge and get to buy some Bourbon that maybe hard to get from where one is...for example down in Florida certain brands are almost always sold out. There is a lot to see and experience here.

FANTASTIC tour. Very educational and friendly staff. They have a great gift shop of wearables and eatables.

If only they would sell me a bottle of Pappy or Weller 12...one can wish. Great distillery! Great people doing the tastings!

Lunch sandwiches were good, free tour was awesome (hard hat), tasting was good as well.

Quite an operation. Very efficient. Friendly staff. Great gift shop. Make sure you reserve tours in advance

Wow! We have done a few distillery tours but this one takes the cake! Bonus, it was FREE. I would have still given 5 starts had they charged $20 it was that good. Free tour takes about 90min, they do a short walk around the grounds, play you a video about the history of the place, we toured some guys bottling burboun. Our guide Rick was also awesome, he was like a kid giving tours of a candy store! If we were in town again we would visit again. They also offer free tastings at the end! The grounds were also beautiful!

Huge, beautiful distillery/campus with great burboun and an awesome gift shop!

Great venue and great tasting session. Also, beautiful area!

Love the staff and guides. Beautiful grounds. I appreciate the complimentary tours and tasting at the end of each tour. 100% recommend this amazing distillery.

The barrel selection tour was awesome. Suzanna was fun and knew her stuff. 10/10 would go again.

David was a terrific tour guide! Friendly, knowledgeable, and genuinely excited about bourbon! We chatted for a few moments even afterwards. He gave me additional information based on the questions I had during the tour. We we absolutely go back to take the rest of the tours.

Beautiful grounds, sizable gift shop, and there is a tasting after the tour. We explored several distilleries and this was our favorite, by far. Thank you, David, for going out of your way to make it an extra special experience!

High quality tour with very knowledgeable staff. Interesting information was shared all the way along the way. Tasting was quite good. The tour was free.

Amazing tour, Don was a great guide and we learned a lot.

We had the best luck to get Freddie Johnson as our tour guide! His incredible knowledge and rich history of Buffalo Trace and bourbon made this adventure beyond special! The tour was free and time we'll spent. THANK YOU FREDDIE!

We took the Hard Hat Tour and it was awesome. David was our guide and he knocked it out of the park.

So, this is the first time I've ever written a review on the internet for anything. Not only was the Buffalo Trace tour the best bourbon tour I've been on, and I've done several (i.e. Makers, Woodford, Four Roses, and Wild Turkey), the staff were the absolute BEST!

The tour was entertaining and delightful throughout and climaxed with a tasting of 3 of their delicious bourbons (pick any 2), and we also got to try their version of Baily's Irish Cream which is delicious, and to my knowledge, the only bourbon cream out there and only currently distributed here in the Kentucky area.

Last and not least, how about the INTEGRITY AND KINDNESS OF THE STAFF!!!! I accidentally lost my favorite pair of sunglasses (Prada and cost $340), and have been retracing my steps trying to figure out where I lost them. I called Buffalo Trace (3 weeks later), just to see if by some remote chance I lost them while I was there. The employees were still safekeeping my sunglasses in their lost and found and are shipping them to me complementary. Fantastic!!! Cheers to Buffalo Trace, their delicious bourbon, and amazing staff!!!

P.S. My buddy who is a bartender and bourbon connoisseur claims to have done every bourbon tour in Kentucky and advised me that Buffalo's is his favorite. In fact, because of his connections in the bourbon community he has been on their VIP tour in which they included Pappy Van Winkle in the tasting.

By far the best distillery experience available in Kentucky! Great staff, who provide more than a tour, and insight into what is happening at the Trace. Great gift shop, decent parking, and a load of history.

Great tour, very informative. We got to try several of their products, which was nice to know what we liked before visiting the gift shop.

Awesome place, the tours are free and amazing. We did the Historical land mark tour and the Hardhat tour both were an excellent experience. Our tour guide Freddie was great, very passionate about his job. I can not wait to go back !!!

Fun tour discussing various brands made at the distillery, process for making spirits and the aging process. Free tour with a tasting at the end of the tour.

Fun place! Brought my wife and kids here. My son was able to drink a root beer while my wife and I tasted bourbons. Great gift shop too.

Passed on the tour (already know how bourbon is made and there was quite a crowd), but was able to go straight to tasting their fine wares.

The staff were knowledgeable and courteous, and had the perfect order to try their products in.

1. White Dog Mash - an unaged bourbon, coming in at 125 proof, sweet corn taste at first followed by a shine-like burn.

2. Kentucky Straight Bourbon - starts smooth and ends spicy

3. Eagle Rare Breed - starts spicy and ends somewhat smoother and sweeter

4. Pecan bourbon chocolate - rich dark chocolate, slightly chewy bourbon flavoured creme center and a pecan on top

Finished with their "Kentucky Cream", which is like Baileys but made with real cream and of course, their bourbon. God-damn it's delicious!

A terrific experience of some pretty good bourbons (of which a few bottles followed us home) in a nicely done store. Definitely the highlight of our Kentucky touring. And do check out their stuffed mini-buffalo.

Amazing distillery, lots of history, plus the tour is free! We saw the inside of one of the oldest rick houses, as well as the small batch/single barrel bottling line for Buffalo Trace and Blanton's. Highly recommended and one of my More

Even during COVID-19 the team at Buffalo Trace conducts excellent tours. They offer a variety and we chose the Bourbon Barrel Tour and were not disappointed. The tour takes you through the life of a barrel as well as into rick houses with conversation on how the rick house structure and placement in the rick house can make substantial differences in the bourbon they produce. The tour concluded in rick house BLDG C which has never been empty since they built it. An amazing place.

This was out last stop on the Bourbon Trail (even though they are no longer part of it). We wanted to see where Blanton's Bourbon was made. I was very impressed with our tour guide, Freddie. He was a third generation employee there and he was very knowledgeable about Buffalo Trace. He also conducted a very impressive and informative tasting. Enough so that we went out and bought products later that day.

Weller its hard to find here lately in our liquor stores but, I love it and been drinking it for years. I would love to order it directly from the makers if possible?

Probably never been more disappointed / disrespected by a business before. Beware, don t try to enjoy yourselves too much hear. They will do their best to ruin your day. I wish I knew what we did to get treated so poorly. I will never go back.

This is probably one of the prettiest bourbon places. They have by far the best bourbon balls. And my husband thinks their vodka is the best he has ever tasted. Best of all, it s free! The guide was extremely knowledgeable. We didn t have to wait very long for a tour either. This isn t on the bourbon tour but should be added to anyone s list who is doing the bourbon tour. One of our favorites for sure and one of the only ones where we actually bought something.

A great place to learn the history of Buffalo Trace. If you have the time you absolutely need to do the tour. Buffalo Trace has done an outstanding job of preserving the past while still maintaining a wonderful facility. Make sure to pick up some Blanton's or Eagle Rate bourbon.

Wonderful experience, free tour and five tastings at the end. You get to see storage buildings, but not the distilling operation.

The tour was pretty decent but more or less what you would expect. Our tour guide was excellent though and had lots of good anecdotes and information. The tasting was good. If you have anyone that isn't a huge bourbon fan have them try the bourbon cream, it is good stuff

The only major distillery with a free tasting and tour, top notch

The best of all the Kentucky Distilleries, and that's saying a lot.

Very friendly and informative tour guide. Free, delicious, bourbon and vodka samples at the end. Side note: they make Platinum vodka - they did not mention that on the tour whatsoever and I only know because I saw them loading it into a semi trailer and I asked the tour guide.

Absolutely beautiful experience, friendly employees and guides, and overall an efficient operation. However, the bourbon selection for purchase was limited to only one kind when we went, despite the wide variety of brands that are crafted here. They need to do better. So that is why I give it a 4/5 and not a full 5. Maybe you'll have better luck, although it shouldn't have to come to that.

Overwhelming. Historical significance is so well preserved and presented. Staff is incredibly engaged with involving visitors. 2 days later and I'm still smiling as I recall the visit. The tourist shop is to die for. You can't leave empty handed. Ask for the tour that Freddie is leading. Not sure if he's for real or the best character actor ever. He's an asset to the company for sure.

Buffalo Trace is my favorite distillery! Take the tour if you can but plan ahead as they are by reservation only during COVID. They have good mask and distancing policy to keep employees and customers safe. Get there first thing and you may get a bottle of Blanton's Single Barrel!

AWESOME!!!!! Everybody needs to make this tour. The tour guide, Freddie was the best.

Bought my 4th barrel of bourbon from them and everytime it's an awesome experience. Tha k you keep up great work. Susannah thanks for awesome tour.

Great tours! Learned a lot about the history of the United States as well as an in depth history of Whisky!

The best tour NOT listed on the Bourbon Trail. I've been on them all this is the best by far. I fell in love with Blanton's after my visit.

It was a terrific experience to visit the Buffalo Trace Distillery in December. The laid-back attitude that engulfs everything in Kentucky is wonderful - we were greeted by helpful employees who were genuinely excited that we visited their place. The gift shop is larger than most distilleries that we've visited. Love this place.