vast herds of buffalo, sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands, astonished the initial Euro-American hunters, including Daniel Boone, who in the early eighteenth century ventured deep into the westernmost frontier of Virginia Colony. Inspired by the Native Americans they encountered, the adventurers called the untamed wilderness, Kentucke . In the 1770s this bucolic territory would be surveyed and settled by, among others, brothers Hancock and Willis Lee. The Lees established a primitive log homestead, close to nearby cold springs, on a well-situated bank of the Kentucky River. In 1786 Leestown was founded. A later inhabitant and site owner, Daniel Swigert, erected the first distillery on the property in 1857. Future distillers of the location, most notably Colonel E.H.

Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Colonel Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, Gary Gayheart, Elmer T. Lee, and Harlen Wheatley, would build on the vision of the Lee brothers and Daniel Swigert by developing many of the most coveted bourbon and rye whiskey recipes in the history of Kentucky. In Buffalo, Barrels, & Bourbon, best-selling author and spirits expert F. Paul Pacult delivers a comprehensive and entertaining chronicle, not only of Buffalo Trace Distillery's specific plot of riverside land but also of the distillery's remarkable whiskey-making legacy. Tracking the distillery's evolution through the Civil War, two World Wars, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and into modern times, the author brings to life with wit and clarity the colorful past of its acclaimed whiskeys.

The book weaves meticulously researched historical data with compelling insights into now-legendary whiskey brands like Pappy Van Winkle, W.L. Weller, Blanton's Single Barrel, Eagle Rare, Thomas H. Handy Sazerac, and George T. Stagg. The larger-than-life personalities brought to life on each page make this the ideal read to be savored both by American history buffs and whiskey devotees. Buffalo, Barrels, & Bourbon is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking an engaging distillation of one of the American heartland's most storied whiskey distilleries.