Checking in on Buffalo Trace one month after the great flood of 2025

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A couple days ago, I took a tour of Buffalo Trace that was part of a barrel pick I was on (more on that in another article). My group got lucky because our guide was none other than Bourbon Hall-of-Famer Freddie Johnson. Throughout our tour, Freddie would point out how high the flood waters got at different areas around the campus and the damage it wrought.

Here are some of the more interesting things I learned.

Total barrels impacted by floodwater: 37,000+

For a distillery that has around 1.5 million barrels of bourbon aging on its campus, hearing “only” 37,000 barrels were submerged in the floodwaters seems like a lucky break. But in my previous article about the flood-stricken warehouses, I gave an opinion that the barrels on those lowest floors were actually the most valuable ones that Buffalo Trace had. I asked Freddie if this opinion was accurate but he would not confirm or deny it. The one thing he did tell us (many times) was just how upsetting the damage was to the employees and staff.

The impacted barrels must now be opened up to have a chemical analysis conducted on the liquid inside. This is a requirement by the FDA as well as just common sense. Floodwater is some of the most polluted water you can come in contact with and just because we assume a barrel is airtight doesn’t mean it can’t be affected.

I also am concerned that any residual toxins or sewage could remain on the outside of the barrel. The issue with that is that it could be washed off into the collection tanks during the dumping process. I have previously written about how I believe that Jefferson’s Ocean gets a slightly briny taste in their whiskey – not because salty sea air wiggled its way into the interior of the barrel but because it embeds itself on the outside and gets washed off during dumping.

No word on how long the process will take to analyze each one and Freddie was also unsure what the chemical analysis even entailed. Needless to say, it will probably take a long time. I wonder if we’ll see some BTAC releases canceled in the future?

Every warehouse is closed to the public until further notice

The most striking thing that stood out while I was walking around the campus is that the bottom level of almost every warehouse is sealed off with large, temporary HVAC units forcing in air. Freddie said that the units were also pulling out moisture, but not ALL of the moisture. The process could impact the aging process of the barrels inside due to increased air circulation and wildly varying humidity levels. This will certainly have an impact on the aging whiskey’s final profile months or years from now. But what kind of an impact remains unseen.

In normal times, most groups conduct barrel picks inside of Warehouse H. But since the first floor of it was completely submerged, that wasn’t going to happen. Our group leader initially received an email saying that we would be conducting our pick inside of Warehouse P. This had me psyched because this was the warehouse with “The Last Drop” refrigerated unit inside that was aging many of the 20+ year old barrels of whiskey inside.

In the end, we didn’t go to Warehouse P due to the ongoing drying process. We had to do our barrel selection in the upper floor of the gift shop. Darn.

Speaking of Warehouse P…

I wrote this article a while back discussing the refrigerated unit built inside of Warehouse P that houses ultra-aged barrels for the most exclusive Buffalo Trace and The Last Drop releases. Freddie mentioned that during the flood not only did water make its way inside the unit (he declined to say how high), but that it submerged refrigeration unit components outside of the building causing it to stop running.

It’s not like the refrigerated unit was storing a food product that would spoil or anything, but this disruption is going to impact those barrels in some way in the future. We just won’t know until they are released.

Pompeii fermentation came to a halt

If you’ve been keeping tabs on Buffalo Trace news over the past decade, you’ve probably heard of the “Pompeii” fermenters that they uncovered underneath one of the original O.F.C. buildings. Out of the dozen fermentation tanks, one was able to be revived using original masonry and copper imported – get this – from the original German mine it was extracted from a century and a half earlier. The cool thing is they actually use a sour mash whiskey recipe in the same style that it would have been all those years ago.

But when the floods came, they were told to quickly drain the entire fermenter so that thousands of gallons of fermented mash wouldn’t be added to the environmental disaster. A month later and the fermenter is still not refilled. This is probably because the equipment has to go through thorough cleaning and maintenance to be certified to operate again.

Final Thoughts

All-in-all, I was shocked that the distillery has been cleaned up so quickly after devastation that occurred. Media outlets have reported that the company ServPro was responsible for the restoration process. More than 250 employees worked 24/7 for many weeks to get operations back to normal (or as close as they can be). It appears like this summer should see everything return to fully operational status.

I may give Buffalo Trace a lot of flack when it comes to the way they operate their business, but I could never imagine a future without them making Kentucky bourbon. They’re one of the best and I’m glad that things are back up and running after such a terrible event.