Legendary tour guide Freddie Johnson, right, holds a tasting with two customers at Buffalo Trace Distillery. The distillery is set to reopen to the public on July 1. (Photo courtesy of Buffalo Trace)
Despite a four-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, Buffalo Trace Distillery welcomed roughly half the number of visitors in 2020 as it did the previous year.
The distillery, which was closed from the beginning of March through July 1, announced Tuesday that 145,365 guests visited last year and that visits were up in December over prior year.
“As soon as the pandemic hit we got to work making modifications in order to be able to reopen safely and really create a comfortable environment for our guests,” Meredith Moody, homeplace development director, said. “Our sincere thanks goes to the thousands of visitors, from across the country, who have felt confident in our safety protocols and chose to visit Buffalo Trace Distillery since we reopened.”
When the distillery reopened in July it debuted its expanded visitor center and continues offering free tours. Group size is limited and registration is required. Masks and social distancing are mandatory throughout the distillery and hand sanitizer is available.
Due to the pandemic, 2020 was the first year that Buffalo Trace didn’t set an in-person visitation record since 2010.
In May, the distillery began hosting livestream segments on social media each week called Whiskey Wednesday. From May 13 through December, the episodes were viewed by more than 3.6 million people around the world. Whiskey Wednesday episodes will continue this year, featuring behind-the scenes tours, trivia, history and special guests.
“With the many challenges 2020 brought to all of us, we are thankful to have seen such robust visitation, and even year-over-year growth around the holidays,” Moody said.
Buffalo Trace, which has remained operational as an essential business, also undertook hand sanitizer production at the onset of the pandemic, having now created about 1.1 million gallons on an industrial scale for some of the world’s largest organizations. This is in addition to its bourbon production and its ongoing $1.2 billion infrastructure improvement and distillery expansion to increase production for future bourbon demand.
Buffalo Trace is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Registrations for tours can be made at https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/visit-us.html. All tours are free and include a socially distanced tasting. Curbside sales also continue. To place an order visit https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/shop.html.
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I am not sure why it is important that Buffalo Trace had nearly 150,000 visitors last year? Did any of these folks spend any money in Franklin County? Buffalo Trace is a multinational corporation, traded on the stock exchange, with most profits going out of state. The bourbon tour buses whisk the tourists in and out if town, without them spending a cent downtown. Besides some wages and taxes, what are we really getting out of those 150K folks?
Jim, I have to ask you, do you hate capitalism?
Of course not, Ron, do you? If you really loved capitalism, it seems that you and your beloved Trump sycophants would be all for getting rid of the COVID`19 ASAP, so that we can fully open up our commerce, schools, restaurants, bars gyms, movies, everything again. Where is you outrage?
It seems that you would be incensed that your beloved Trump so botched the county's response to the pandemic, seriously wounding our economy. Trump committed a number of cognizant, negligent acts of commission and omission for purely political reasons that exacerbated the dire effects of this virus, that has resulted in nearly a half a million deaths.in less than a year.
It is apparent that you and your ilk believed Trump when he tried to claim that he "ended the Covid-19 pandemic", however, the epidemic continues to worsen. Simply being too complacent in the face of a grave public health challenge is a grave error.
But let me be more clear, as you seemed to miss my point. I am happy for the company that they are making money hand over fist. It is a good thing that their bubble hasn't popped, but we are both old enough to remember that it wasn't very long ago that they couldn't give the stuff away. They were renting out their warehouse space to the state for offices.
It is nice that they can still draw visitors, although their worldwide sales are hardly dependent upon their tasting room sales. In these pandemic times, I question the sanity of having these large groups of people gathering inside and further inhibiting their judgement with free hootch. I am just not sure why that is such an important story or cause for the community to celebrate, as it doesn't seem to be benefitting us all that much.
Not to change the subject , but the ilk of Trump believers - the angry young and old white men and women that committed the attempt insurrection on our Nation , killing two police officers makes me think of the other angry white male Trump supporters . Fed misinformation they turned into domestic terrorist and under Trumps administration,committed deadly mass shooting - the deadliest on record was the Las Vegas shooting in 2017 - 59 dead- Sutherland Springs school church 2017 - 26 dead and the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019 with 22 dead . I guess my point is that every time I hear an opinion from white Trump supporters , all these examples of what he’s done to destroy our democracy pop up and have little to do with capitalism.
Ron, I have to ask you, do you hate democracy?
No, of course not. Though a democratic republic, which the USA IS, is the best way to live as a free people. Don't you agree?
I am all for maintaining our representative democracy… Too bad you and the Trumper‘s are trying to destroy it for an autocracy! I’m paying attention to what you do, and not what you say!
What I do? Like everyone else, all I do is quarantine! Jim, it took you the better part for 2 days to come back with that?! I''ll bet you were /are seething in anger that that's the best you've got.
admit it, that was WEAK!
One of the first posts I made was to attack Communism for the Co-Vid pandemic, and you and several others attacked me and defended communism for doing so, citing communism was just an innocent offshoot of "community" goodness and harmony. What a sick joke! You love the word sycophant and use it at aver opportunity. Well Jim, you are a a sterling example of a sycophant. Specifically, you are are a sycophant to an all consuming, hate and anger. You seethe and cultivate it relentlessly! It's pretty sad that while Democrats should be euphoric at Biden's election, you just can't stop being a sycophant to hate. Why is that?
Ron, you don’t even know what a sycophant is, you can’t br one to hate, it has to involve another person.
All of your posts below this one do not have an Add Reply box, so I had to answer your question under my own comment. I haven’t been sitting around for two days seething! Your posts are devoid of substance, so it’s not even a good debate that could be had. Truth be told, I am just not that into you, Ron.
And Jim, I feel exactly the same way. I just have to call out vacuous, specious and mendacious posts that you specialize in. And anyone who defends communism the way you do, I don't believe for one second that you truly want a democratic republic, which is how the United States of America was founded and IS. At least until the Left removes the Senate filibuster and allows DC and Puerto Rico to become states, etc. They just happen to be Leftist/Democrat, don't they? What a coincidence!
Once again, I have to respond under my own comment, but you state that " I just have to call out vacuous, specious and mendacious posts that you specialize in."
Why don't your start out with telling all of us what I said that is incorrect, rather than your pontificating. That is the way that my liberal arts college degree taught me how to do it.
A liberal arts degree, why am I not surprised? Did they teach you how to enhance your vacuous, specious and mendacious posts? Leftists excel at that.
Hey, I thought you just weren't that into me? Why the wasted posts then?
By the way, I forgot to mention how the Leftists want to add stacking the Supreme Court, along with killing the filibuster and statehood for DC and PR.
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