WAREHOUSE X OPENS TO VISITORS
BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY has opened its long-anticipated experimental barrel warehouse – Warehouse X – in Frankfort, Kentucky. Comprised of brick, concrete block and skylights, this is the first new building Buffalo Trace has added to its 13O acre complex in more than 6O years. With a small footprint of only 3O feet by 5O feet, the warehouse has the capacity of around 15O barrels. Its most compelling feature, however, is four independently operating chambers that allow specific variables to be tested in order to determine their effect on aging barrels. There is also a barrel breezeway with an open air rick underneath a roof in which a small number of barrels will age while being exposed to the natural elements. The first four variables Buffalo Trace plans to experiment with are natural light, temperature, airflow, and humidity. Warehouse X will test one variable at a time. For example, the first experiment will focus on the effect of natural light for at least two years. Each chamber will have varying degrees of light, ranging from 1OO% natural light to complete darkness. After the natural light experiment is concluded, a new experiment will start on temperature, and then studies will start on the effects of humidity, and so on.
“Through the years, there’s been a lot of research done on barrels, and a lot done on bourbon, but none done on the actual structure of a warehouse,” said Mark Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Buffalo Trace Distillery. “What is the best warehouse structure to yield the best results? No one knows. But the construction of this warehouse will give us invaluable insight into what light, temperature, airflow, and humidity do to the barrels and the bourbon inside, and hopefully put us one step closer to producing the perfect bourbon.”
Buffalo Trace Distillery broke ground on Warehouse X in the spring of 2O13. The construction progress was documented on the blog experimentalwarehouse.com and the blog will continue to be updated as new findings are released and new phases of experiments begin. The whiskeys that will be aging inside will be bottled under the Experimental Collection line. It will be a minimum of eight years after the warehouse is complete before any whiskey will be bottled from it. Visitors to Buffalo Trace Distillery will be able to walk inside the breezeway of Warehouse X and learn about the current experiment occurring inside through computer screens. An educational Master Distiller’s Garden is also being planted outside the new warehouse that will contain the four grains necessary for bourbon production: corn, wheat, rye, and barley.
