Buffalo Trace Distillery nears completion of decade-long $1.2 billion expansion project

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After 10 years and more than $1 billion, Buffalo Trace Distillery is nearing the end of a massive expansion project.

Sazerac, the distillery's parent company, said the $1.2 billion expansion has added 19 more barrel warehouses, a new distribution center, new bottling center, additional fermenters and steam boilers, among other additions.

"Just about everywhere you look, we've expanded," Harlen Wheatley, mater distiller at Buffalo Trace Distillery said Wednesday.

He said 2024 was a "record-breaking" year for the distillery with more than 600,000 visitors.

"We made more whiskey than we ever made before and we have no plans of slowing down," Whealtey said.

The expansion project began in 2015 and is wrapping up about the same time as a potential tariff looms over exports. This traces back to 2018, when the European Union imposed a 25% tax on American whiskeys in response to U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

While those tariffs from 2018 have been suspended, the reprieve is temporary. On March 31, 2025, the E.U.'s tariff of 50% is set to go into effect if no agreement is reached regarding steel and aluminum imports between the U.S. and the E.U.

"We're watching that closely," Wheatley said. "We haven't seen anything yet to be concerned with but we're watching that. We don't really have any way to project on what we're going to end up with. Again, for us, we are just expanding into export market and all that. So it just depends on how that shapes up (and) how it affects us."

This week, Louisville-based Brown-Forman announced a corporate restructuring that will cut 12% of its global workforce of 5,400 employees. In the release announcing the restructuring, Brown-Forman said it will close its barrel-making operation in Louisville by April 25, 2025. The closing of the cooperage means 210 hourly and salaried jobs will be lost at the MacLean Avenue operation. The company said it plans to offer severance, outplacement services and benefits as part of the separation agreements.

Brown-Forman, which has been based in Louisville for 155 years, said it will source its barrels from a supplier with the same "high-quality barrels at competitive price." Its brands include Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve, Herradura, el Jimador, Korbel, Old Forester, The Glendronach, Glenglassaugh, Benriach, Diplomático Rum, Chambord, Gin Mare, Fords Gin, Slane, and Coopers' Craft.

"I think things are settling down somewhat in the industry, but, for us, we've been very focused on the future and our specific plans for the globe and we've got a lot of opportunities that we haven't explored before," Wheatley said. "For us, we're kind of just getting started with a lot of the expansion of the sales in the globe for us. So it's going to be exciting for us."

He said the future for Buffalo Trace Distillery "looks really strong" and he believes growth in the industry will continue.

"... because people are just figuring out what bourbon's all about," Wheatley said.

He said this decade-long expansion has allowed the distillery to double its capacity to help meet demand, which is still heavy.

"We're building warehouses, one every two months," he said. "And we're filling those up and there's 58,800 barrels each. And we're filling those up every two months and no plans of slowing down."

Another milestone projected this year thanks to the expansion project will be the filling of Buffalo Trace's 9 millionth barrel.

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