For anyone who’s ever wanted to sit down with a real bourbon expert and go through a proper tasting without hopping a flight to Kentucky, there’s good news. Buffalo Trace Distillery just announced it’s bringing back its traveling tasting event, called Buffalo Trace Distillery On Tour, for a second run this fall. This time it’s hitting four cities across Missouri, Colorado and Texas, and three of those stops are brand new.
Buffalo Trace calls itself the World’s Most Award-Winning Distillery, and this tour is basically their way of packing up a piece of that experience and driving it out to fans who can’t make the trip to Frankfort, Kentucky. Last year’s tour apparently did well enough that the distillery decided to expand it, mixing a returning city with a few fresh markets.
Where The Tour Is Stopping This Year
The 2026 tour will make stops in Branson, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; and Denver, Colorado. Here’s the full schedule:
- Branson, Missouri at Big Cedar Lodge – October 1-4
- Kansas City, Missouri at The Bauer – October 8-11
- Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas at The Laurel – October 14-17
- Denver, Colorado at Church Ranch Event Center – November 12-15
Each stop runs for four days, and the distillery is offering 14 total tasting sessions per city, split between afternoon and evening time slots so people with different schedules have a shot at getting in.
What Actually Happens At A Tasting Session
This isn’t just a quick sip-and-go setup. Each session is a guided tasting that runs about 75 minutes, led by hosts who know the brands inside and out. Guests get walked through four different pours, and along the way they learn about the mashbills, the tasting notes, how each whiskey was aged, and what makes each one different from the next.
The lineup for this year’s tour includes some serious heavy hitters: Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Eagle Rare 10 Year Old, Weller Antique 107, and the newer Sazerac Rye 100 Proof. That’s a solid spread for guys who already know their way around a whiskey glass, but it’s also approachable enough for someone just getting into bourbon and wanting to learn what separates a wheated bourbon from a rye, or why age statements matter…