After Last Week's Flooding, Buffalo Trace is Gradually Returning To Normal

Update April 15, 2025: A week since Buffalo Trace was overwhelmed by flood waters, the distillery said things are gradually returning to normal. Thanks to the efforts of a cleanup and restoration team totaling hundreds of people, at press time the removal of debris and damage was around 75% complete. The buildings have all been emptied of water, and restoration is underway. In addition, power has been restored to some of the key areas of the complex, enabling a restart of bottling inside the distillery’s Blanton’s Bottling Hall and main bottling operation.

Yesterday, Buffalo Trace also reopened to a limited number of visitors, with a scaled-back retail experience available to those who already held reservations. There is a small pop-up shop inside the Freehouse building where bottles can be purchased, as well as complimentary tastings under a nearby canopy, though there are no tours yet. Buffalo Trace said that, capacity permitting, a small number of tickets will be offered online on a first-come, first-served basis.

Buffalo Trace Distillery announced on Friday, April 11^th, that flood waters from the Kentucky River have receded to normal levels—after the distillery campus was inundated on Monday, April 7th. Now the inspections, assessments, clean-up, and recovery are underway. Sazerac and Buffalo Trace CEO and president Jake Wenz expressed confidence that the distillery will be up and running soon. “As of [Friday] morning, we started shipping our finished goods again and expect to resume bottling sometime [this] week,” Wenz added.

The flooding was part of a broad swath of storm weather that impacted the South Central U.S., causing major flooding in the Tennessee and Ohio River valleys. The Kentucky River, which is a tributary of the Ohio River, has a long history of flooding, with many major incidents in the 20th century, one of the worst coming in the winter of 1978. Because of its location right near the banks of the Kentucky River, Buffalo Trace is no stranger to flooding. Other distilleries are also located along the Kentucky River, notably Wild Turkey in Versailles, but it sits at a higher altitude than Buffalo Trace.

For recovery from this flood, the forward plan is thus formulated on previous flood incidents. The assessments now underway will include barrel inspections and tasting—that part of the process is expected to take several weeks, but Buffalo Trace said it expects barrel loss to be minimal. Clean-up is also underway at the visitor center, which saw flooding on its ground floor. Repairing that facility is expected to take some time, but the goal is to have at least a modified reopening as soon as possible. In the meantime, there will be a reduced retail operation starting this coming week at the Freehouse Welcome Center, its visitor facility located by the visitor parking lot. This will be accessible via an email reservation system, which will first be made available to tour reservation holders whose visits were interrupted by the flooding.

At press time, there was no word yet on the total damage, but the flood impacted much of the distillery campus. Buffalo Trace will be launching community support initiatives, to be announced soon, and updates on the reopening will be made as the weeks proceed. The flooding comes just a few weeks before the Kentucky Derby on May 3, so Buffalo Trace, an ever-popular destination that’s also a National Historical Landmark, has some additional incentive to reopen to visitors as soon as possible.