How Kentucky's Buffalo Trace Distillery bounced back from a massive flood

"The long history of bourbon production at Buffalo Trace Distillery has been connected to the Kentucky River - summed up as a blessing and curse by a plaque on the grounds. In the 1800s, long before the Buffalo Trace name was attached to the distillery, the river served as a floating highway to bring in grain and other production essentials and to transport barrels of whiskey to markets along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers."

"Even today, river water cools down production equipment. But the river flowing past the distillery flashed its destructive side in April. A massive flood, caused by days of unrelenting rain, sent the Kentucky River surging over its banks, inundating most of the 200-plus-acre distillery grounds on its main campus in Frankfort. Nearly every phase of production was impacted, as were several warehouses where whiskey is aged."

""It was just something that was hard to process, but we knew we couldn't take too much time to process it," said Tyler Adams, a distillery general manager. He said they had much to do to recover from the reservoir of murky water that swamped the bourbon-making campus. Five months later, production at the distillery is back to normal, including some of the most sought-after bourbons."

The Kentucky River historically served as a floating highway for Buffalo Trace Distillery, bringing grain and shipping barrels, and still cools production equipment. Days of unrelenting rain caused a massive flood that sent the river surging over its banks, inundating most of the 200-plus-acre Frankfort campus. Nearly every phase of production and several aging warehouses were impacted, leaving plant managers and crews to recover from murky floodwaters. The cleanup enlisted hundreds of plant employees and contract workers. Five months after the flood, production returned to normal across flagship and sought-after bourbons, the distillery filled its 9 millionth barrel, introduced new whiskeys, and began renovating a campus building into a cafe and events center.

Read at Fast Company