Albert B. Blanton

Albert Bacon Blanton spent more than half a century at the distillery. He started there in 1897 as a sixteen-year-old office boy and eventually became its president.

Blanton rose through virtually every department of the operation before taking the helm in 1921. During his tenure, the distillery expanded dramatically and survived some of the greatest challenges in its history—including Prohibition, the Great Flood of 1937, the Great Depression and World War II.

But Blanton's legacy also has a more personal side. He was known for selecting exceptional bourbon from Warehouse H—his "honey barrels"—to share with special guests. Decades later, those barrels inspired Elmer T. Lee to create the world's first modern commercial single-barrel bourbon.

Blanton's name ultimately became synonymous with the idea that sometimes one exceptional barrel is worth singling out.

Buffalo Trace Giants Collection · Clay · 2026