BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY UNVEILS LARGEST EVER BOTTLES OF O.F.C. VINTAGE 1982 BOURBON WHISKEY WITH PROCEEDS DONATED TO CHARITY
THE DISTILLERY WILL BE AUCTIONING OFF FIVE, SIX-LITER BOTTLES OF THE RARE BOURBON WHISKEY VIA BLOCKBAR AS NFTs WITH PROCEEDS BENEFITING FIVE GLOBAL CHARITIES
FRANKFORT, FRANKLIN COUNTY, KY (March 9th, 2022) – Today the 234-year-old Buffalo Trace Distillery is announcing a major milestone with the release of O.F.C. Bourbon Whiskey, distilled in 1982. The ultra-rare whiskey is the Distillery’s only vintage-dated bourbon and will be the first bourbon released in a colossal six-liter sized bottle and sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) on BlockBar.com – the world’s first DTC NFT marketplace for luxury wines and spirits. The five bottles of this highly limited release are part of the 2,022 bottles that Buffalo Trace Distillery has pledged to give away in the year 2022 and will be auctioned off during a five-day event starting Monday, March 14th in collaboration with NFT platform BlockBar. It marks BlockBar’s first-ever auction and the first bourbon sold on its platform.
The five bottles of O.F.C. Vintage 1982 will each be auctioned off with a starting bid of approximately $25,000 USD (8.83 ETH). Bids can be placed via BlockBar.com HERE and can be made via Ethereum or Fiat starting at 10 a.m. EST on Monday, March 14th through 10 a.m. EST on Friday, March 18th. Proceeds from each of the winning, final bids will benefit the following charities:
World Central Kitchen – a non-profit organization that is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises, currently supporting thousands of refugees in and around Ukraine
The James Beard Foundation – through their Open for Good campaign, the Foundation is committed to helping independent restaurants survive this crisis, rebuild better, and thrive for the long term
Elton John Aids Foundation – a global HIV charity that funds frontline partners to prevent new cases of HIV, fight stigma and provide care for those affected
The Art of Elysium – an artist organization built on the idea that through service, art becomes a catalyst for social change
261 Fearless – a global, non-profit women’s running organization dedicated to encouraging and uniting women through running
“We have been inspired by what our charity partners have done to help communities worldwide and are proud to help further their missions through the release of our exclusive O.F.C Vintage 1982 NFTs,” said Vice President of Marketing for Buffalo Trace Distillery, Sara Saunders. “We are thrilled to bring our rich history and philanthropic efforts to the forefront of today’s technology and we couldn’t ask for a better ally than BlockBar to help us achieve that,” she continued.
Each of the five NFTs will represent an authentic six-liter sized bottle of O.F.C Vintage 1982, available to be redeemed by December 31st, 2022. When redeemed, the NFT holder will also unlock a personal invitation to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY for a private VIP tour experience that includes exclusive tastings of whiskeys from its rarest and most sought-after private collection, including some previous vintages from the O.F.C. collection.
“Buffalo Trace Distillery is world renowned and we’re honored to launch our first bourbon on Blockbar.com with five of their most coveted bottles,” comments Dov Falic, co-founder and CEO of BlockBar. “The partnership marks our first live auction and to mark this milestone we are delighted to donate the proceeds of this drop to support the chosen non-profits of Buffalo Trace.”
All of the O.F.C. vintages are named after Buffalo Trace Distillery’s original moniker, the Old Fashioned Copper (O.F.C.) Distillery. The bourbon in the O.F.C. six-liter release was distilled in 1982, at what was then the George T. Stagg Distillery, now known as Buffalo Trace Distillery.
When an inventory of all barrels was taken in 1998, these barrels were noted and left to age until 2001, when at that time the 19-year-old bourbon was vatted into stainless steel tanks, which is a very common process distillers use to halt the aging effects of the barrel on the whiskey.
As the spirit has been quietly maturing for over a quarter of a century, gaining greater complexity, the Buffalo Trace tasting panel is excited by how the whiskey developed. Harlen Wheatley, master distiller at Buffalo Trace Distillery, details the taste as sophisticated, with an extraordinary richness and butteriness with layers of apple, pecans, ripened pear, dark Belgian chocolate, caramel and a kiss of black cherries.
“This remarkable whiskey transitions to a memorable finish of dried dark fruit with delightful lingering oak. All the time knowing that you’re tasting history as you taste the last drops,” said Wheatley. “This truly is a once in a lifetime taste experience.”
Like its predecessors in the O.F.C. line, the 1982 Vintage will be in an elegant, hand-cut crystal bottle with inlaid copper lettering custom created for the brand, but “supersized” in a six-liter bottle. A bottle of this magnitude has rarely been seen on the whiskey market. At six-liters, this bottle is nine times the size of a usual whiskey bottle and holds over a gallon of whiskey, standing at 2 feet tall and weighing 22.5 pounds with liquid inside. The cap itself weighs in at a hefty six pounds. Glass artisans cut the shoulder facets of the bottle using equipment created exclusively for Buffalo Trace Distillery. Each bottle was manually polished to achieve maximum glass brilliance before in-laying cut copper lettering to spell out “O.F.C.” on the front. The bottle is housed inside a wooden display case, along with a provenance card that notes the milestones of the year 1982, including iconic moments like the launch of the first CD player and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ being named the #1 album seller of all time.
To make a bid using ETH you must have the funds in your wallet and connected to BlockBar. At 10:00 AM EST, all winning bidders have two hours to submit the full balance; payment will be accepted through Eth or fiat. Full Terms & Conditions may be found on BlockBar.com. Bids planning on using Wire Transfer must pre-approve the funds by going to BlockBar.com, selecting your payment method under the profile icon on the top right of the screen and clicking payment methods, and select “verify funds” for pre-approval.
Upon purchase of the NFT, the cryptographic version will be held securely by BlockBar.com, with a record of authenticity held on the blockchain as a digital certificate of ownership. The buyer may choose to redeem the physical product, and have it delivered from BlockBar’s secure storage facility, safely trade its NFT version within the BlockBar.com marketplace, keep in their virtual bar or gift the NFT through BlockBar’s new gifting platform.
For more information on O.F.C. Vintage 1982 and a guide to placing bids on BlockBar, please visit https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/our-brands/o-f-c-vintages.html and www.blockbar.com
About Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American family-owned company based in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The Distillery’s rich tradition dates back to 1775 and includes such legends as
E.H. Taylor, Jr., George T. Stagg, Albert B. Blanton, Orville Schupp, and Elmer T. Lee. Buffalo Trace Distillery is a fully operational Distillery producing bourbon, rye and vodka on site and is a National Historic Landmark as well as is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Distillery has won 35 distillery titles since 2000 from such notable publications as Whisky Magazine, Whisky Advocate Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Its George T. Stagg was named World Whiskey of the Year for 2022 and its Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye was named 2nd Finest Whiskey in the World for 2022. Buffalo Trace Distillery has also garnered more than 1,000 awards for its wide range of premium whiskies. To learn more about Buffalo Trace Distillery visit www.buffalotracedistillery.com. To download images from Buffalo Trace Distillery visit http://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/media
About BlockBar
BlockBar is a platform that offers NFTs (digital assets) directly from luxury liquor brands. Each NFT corresponds to a physical bottle. Consumers have the ability to exchange the digital version for the physical version. In simple terms, consumers own the physical bottle, BlockBar stores it for them, and the digital version serves as proof of authenticity, verification of ownership, and the right to have the physical bottle delivered. BlockBar proves authenticity via Ethereum’s blockchain. By buying the NFT directly from the brand, we not only make the process easier, but we ensure that your asset has proven authenticity. Whether you grow your collection, send it as a gift, or resell it, authenticity will never be an issue. Bloc Bar ensures 100% instant authenticity to all collectors up until the moment they redeem the bottle. More so, we offer this service with no commitment. Our platform will still be selling exclusive bottles
directly from the brands at MSRP and consumers have the ability to pay by credit card and can redeem the bottle immediately.