Bourbonpocalypse

Don’t Freak Out or Anything, But There’s a Buffalo Trace Shortage

We may be looking at trace amounts of Buffalo Trace.
We may be looking at trace amounts of Buffalo Trace. Photo: Buffalo Trace

The Kentucky distillery that produces everything from Eagle Rare to Pappy Van Winkle doesn’t want anyone to get worried, but it may not have enough bourbon to get you through the summer. Or the weekend. It’s all kinda up in the air right now. “Buffalo Trace estimates the bourbon shortage could start at any time and may last a few years, based on current sales trends,” marketing director Kris Comstock wrote in a press release sent out yesterday.

“We won’t take drastic measures to mitigate the shortages,” Comstock wrote. Those measures would include raising prices or watering spirits down to a slightly lower proof, a strategy that was pursued briefly by Beam earlier this year after the company realized its Maker’s Mark inventory was completely dwarfed by demand. Maker’s Mark eventually reversed its decision, but not before legions of drinkers and would-be profiteers went out and bought every last bottle of Maker’s Mark in North America in a collective liquor-store frenzy that boosted sales by 44 percent.

Really, there’s no need for alarm — more bourbon is bottled every day. “This announcement is not meant as some sort of scare tactic to get people hoarding bourbon,” Buffalo Trace assures the drinking public. “We always want to be upfront with our fans.”

That’s a tasteful message, one you’ll likely be discussing later on today when you’re out there frantically hoarding every last bottle of Buffalo Trace you can find, and you meet some of those fans, who may or may not be ogling the same bourbon as you. (And just in case that’s not your plan, don’t forget you always have other options.) Anyhow, good luck out there!

News [Buffalo Trace]
Earlier: Scandal Causes Spike in Maker’s Mark Sales
Related: Nine Amazing American Whiskeys That Aren’t Pappy Van Winkle

Don’t Freak Out or Anything, But There’s a Buffalo Trace Shortage