Every December, something special happens on the rolling hills outside Frankfort, Kentucky. The same quiet grounds where master distillers have been laying down bourbon barrels for over two centuries suddenly light up like a Christmas card come to life. For the 27th straight year, Buffalo Trace Distillery is rolling out its “Holidays at the Trace” celebration, and if you’ve never driven through those gates after dark in December, you’re missing one of the most underrated holiday traditions in the country.
From December 4 straight through New Year’s Eve, the place turns into a full-blown winter playground. We’re not talking a few strands of lights draped over a warehouse. Thousands of twinkling bulbs cover the historic brick buildings, wrap around ancient rickhouses, and stretch across the lawns. There’s even a 60-foot light tunnel that makes you feel like you just stepped into one of those old-time holiday movies your dad used to watch every year.
The best part? A lot of it is absolutely free.
The Free Drive-Through That Beats Most Paid Light Shows
Every single night from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., you can roll right onto the property in your own truck, turn the radio down low to some classic Christmas tunes, and cruise slowly through the distillery grounds while the whole place glows. No tickets, no reservations, no fighting crowds at the gate. Just pull in, take your time, and soak it in. Guys who’ve been hauling barrels or fixing combines all year tell me it’s the one place they can just sit back and enjoy the season without somebody asking them to do something.
Spirited Nights: When the Distillery Stays Open After Dark
If you want to get out and walk around, mark your calendar for the second and third weekends in December. That’s when Buffalo Trace opens the gates after hours for the Spirited Nights Light Trail Experience. Again – completely free, but you do need to reserve a spot starting November 18 at 10 a.m. Eastern. They only do twelve nights, and they fill up fast.
You park, bundle up, and wander a path lined with more lights than most towns put on their courthouse square. Themed scenes are scattered everywhere – think giant bourbon barrels wrapped in red and green, massive bottle outlines glowing in the dark, and that long light tunnel everybody takes pictures in. There’s a hot chocolate bar pouring Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream spiked cocoa (free tastes for the 21-and-up crowd), seasonal snacks, and fire pits going so you can warm your hands while you take it all in.
Want to kick it up a notch? For twenty-five bucks you can upgrade to Cocktails & Cheer. That gets you three winter cocktails made with Buffalo Trace mash bills, a souvenir cup, a couple mini bottles of Bourbon Cream, and a nice tote bag to carry everything home. A lot of fellas use it as an excuse for a guys’ night out – walk the lights, sip something that warms you from the inside, and nobody has to play designated driver because you’re only talking three drinks over a couple hours.
The Gift Shop Every Bourbon Guy Needs to See
Look, we all know somebody who’s impossible to shop for – the brother-in-law with every tool known to man, the old man who already owns more bourbon than he’ll drink in two lifetimes, the buddy who swears he doesn’t want anything but you know better.
Buffalo Trace just made your life easier.
The distillery gift shop stays open late all month and they’ve rolled out a pile of new stuff for 2025. Real wool jackets, sharp golf polos with the Weller wheat sheaf or the Pappy silhouette, ball caps that don’t look like every other trucker hat at the feed store. They’ve got Blanton’s stopper golf head covers (yeah, the little horse and jockey ones), engraved barware sets, bourbon-infused barbecue rubs that actually taste like the barrel, and even dog collars and leashes for the guy whose best friend has four legs.
The big news this year is the Whiskey Woodcraft line going nationwide online. The same coopers who fix barrels on site have been turning staves and heads into cutting boards, Glencairn glass holders, personalized barrel heads you can hang in the den, and muddlers that still smell like charred oak and eight-year-old bourbon. Every piece is made from barrels that actually held Buffalo Trace juice. Nothing says “I thought about this gift” like handing your father-in-law a lazy Susan made from the same wood that aged his favorite Stagg.
A Place That Still Feels Like Old Kentucky
Tyler Adams, the general manager, put it plain and simple: “Buffalo Trace Distillery has always been a place where people come together to celebrate, and the holidays are no different.” He’s right. You walk around and you see three generations in Carhartt coats, guys who drove over from Louisville or down from Cincinnati just because this is what they do every December now. Little kids chasing each other under the lights while grandpa explains how bourbon gets that color. Nobody’s in a hurry. Nobody’s trying to sell you a timeshare.
It’s just a distillery that’s been standing since before the Civil War, putting on one hell of a Christmas show because they want to.
If you’re anywhere within a couple hundred miles of Frankfort this December, do yourself a favor. Load up the truck, grab the wife or the kids or the old man, and go see it. Drive through on a weeknight when it’s quiet. Or reserve a spot for the walking tour and treat yourself to a cocktail under the lights.
Either way, you’ll pull out of those gates thinking maybe the holidays aren’t so commercial after all.
Sometimes all it takes is a few thousand lights, a nip of good bourbon, and a place that remembers what the season’s really about.
