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Data shows ‘consistency’ in new Buffalo Trace whiskey

Kentucky-based Buffalo Trace Distillery has confirmed the quality of whiskey maturing in its 10 new warehouses is ‘consistent’ with liquid from its main campus.

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Each new Buffalo Trace warehouse can hold 58,800 barrels

Sazerac-owned Buffalo Trace revealed its US$1.2 billion expansion plans in 2018, designed to increase production to meet growing demand.

The 10 completed warehouses each have capacity to store 58,800 barrels, creating an on-site inventory of more than one million whiskey barrels. The new warehouses are situated on a 192-acre farm adjacent to the distillery.

Buffalo Trace will continue building at a rate of one new warehouse every four months, meaning three new warehouses will be completed in 2021.

The new warehouses are seven storeys tall, metal clad with insulation, and built with wooden floors.

Buffalo Trace heats its warehouses using a steam-powered patented heating system in the floors with dual zones, meaning temperatures in each building can be managed independently.

Buffalo Trace has recorded and compared temperature fluctuations on the first floor of ‘new’ barrel Warehouse AA, and ‘old’ Warehouse S – which holds 50,000 barrels. The brand said fluctuations between both sites was ‘remarkably similar’.

Harlen Wheatley, master distiller, said: “Consistency in a taste profile is much harder to maintain than most people realise. Any time you bring a new element into the equation, it has the potential to change the result.

“We’ve worked very hard to ensure our new ageing warehouses are consistent in the taste profiles for which Buffalo Trace Distillery is known.

“We test all barrels in the new warehouses every 12 months and run them through a full sensory analysis to compare them to our ‘standard’ for that brand at the part in its ageing cycle and also compare them against barrels which have been ageing the same amount of time in our more established warehouses on our main campus.

“We’re really happy the taste is consistent across the board and look forward to being able to release them once they’ve reached their ageing potential. Along the way, we’ll continue to monitor them and run tests as we do with all of our ageing barrels to make sure they are meeting or exceeding brand standards of quality.”

In August last year, Buffalo Trace said it would be a few more years until its whiskey supply could meet demand.

Last month, the producer added a baijiu-style spirit aged in American oak casks to its Experimental Collection.

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Buffalo Trace Warehouse AA Floor 1 temperature changes
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Buffalo Trace Warehouse S temperature changes

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