Buffalo Trace crop yield below expectation

Buffalo Trace Distillery has harvested the first crops of corn that will be used to create a new stand-alone brand of single estate Bourbon, but the yield was below expectation.

Buffalo Trace has harvested the first of its single estate corn

The company announced its intention to launch a new brand of “farm to bottle” Bourbon earlier this year after acquiring 282-acres of land next to its Kentucky distillery, where it has planted corn, rye and barley.

In May, the distillery planted its first seeds of non-GMO corn across 18-acres using the “same strain of corn” used at the distillery by Colonel E. H. Taylor, Jr. in 1870.

“Although the yield was not quite as much as we had expected, we’re still excited to complete this step and begin our own farm-to-table Bourbon,” said Harlen Wheatley, master distiller at Buffalo Trace.

Set to be launched as a “separate, stand-alone” Bourbon with its own brand identity, the name, age and price of the spirit have yet to be determined.

A portion of the land will also be used to significantly increase the group’s ageing capacity, with the build of 50 warehouses planned on the property starting in 2017, and continuing over the next 10 years.

In total, Buffalo Trace Distillery owns 439 acres of land.