Buffalo Trace Firehouse Sandwich Shop (Firehouse Cafe)

On a recent visit to Buffalo Trace Distillery, we ate lunch at the sandwhich shop on the grounds. My friend and I split a turkey sandwich and chips. Be sure to check the hours as the shop is seasonal and not open every day. It is a great place to relax and soak up some of the great atmosphere after a tour or visit to the gift shop. If you go to eat towards the end of their open time, you might find that they are out of some items which wasn't a big deal for us.

Nice little sandwich shop in the middle of Buffalo trace distillery. Great spot for refreshing BBQ sandwiches while checking out the distillery. Good pimento cheese and pulled pork. Love the spicy BBQ sauce and delicious cookies. Great spot for some food while you’re checking out the distillery.

Amazing pulled pork sandwich — we arrived end of day so they were out of most sides, but well worth the stop for the bbq when your already at the distillery.

Didn't expect to have many food options on the bourbon trail, but the BBQ here was very good. Brisket, pork and chicken all great and sides as well. The 2 ladies working were super nice and helpful!

The food is always tasty and the ladies that run the restaurant are attentive and welcoming.

Solid food option, themed sandwiches, soda made onsite at BT.

IF YOU WANT SOME SERIOUS BBQ THEN YOU CAN'T BEAT BUFFALO TRACE FIREHOUSE SANDWICH SHOP

Food was absolutely delicious

Get the burgoo! It was absolutely delicious.

Delicious food,they can run out of items if you’re there near closing time. Nice shaded tables are available to enjoy your eats.

While the food is good it seems a little pricey. Still worth stopping by.

I think people leaving reviews for this place must be letting their enjoyment of the Buffalo Trace campus & tours cloud their judgement on the food.

First, for the positives. Of course the environment is great because you’re on the Buffalo trace campus so everything is beautiful around it.

Regarding food, I had the single barrel (pork) and my wife had the white oak (chicken). The pork was definitely fresh, and the rub they used for it was decent when you eat those bits. I liked the spicy sauce ok, and the potato salad wasn’t half bad, just seriously lacking salt.

Which brings me to the main issue with all of the food—complete lack of salt. I think the potato salad would be great if they added salt to it. While the outside of the pork with the bits of rub was good, the inside of the meat had zero flavor. The chicken was bland as well. The coleslaw was actually ridiculous, I didn’t taste anything,l but the cabbage. No sauce on it at all that I could detect.

I had a cup of the soup, but since I’ve never had Burgoo before, I don’t have anything to compare it to. It was seasoned decent actually, but I just didn’t think it tasted all that great. I guess they won an award for it though, so maybe that is the best of the best?

It’s also a bit expensive for what you get, but could have been worse. With this being the only food option on campus, my guess is it’s existed out of necessity. If you can hold off and eat somewhere else, I would recommend it.

When we found out the world’s most award-winning distillery had food on-site, we were confident they would serve food on par with their carefully crafted Kentucky Bourbon. The first sign things may not be as we expected was when we saw it was relocated from the historic barrel branding firehouse to the back of a long hallway at the opposite ends of the 2nd-floor tasting room. They were taking orders on a folding table outside of a small kitchen with one person bringing out a styrofoam container in a plastic bag concealing the food that lay within.

Let’s start with the bun. Unlike the fine blend of corn and grains that go into their bourbon, Buffalo Trace takes a different approach here. A simple, and humble, plain white bun that immediately melts in your mouth in a way that I didn’t know was possible with bread. Somehow homey, and gummy, it reminded me of the ones my Grandma used to bring to hot summer cookouts after leaving them in the trunk of her Buick.

The cheese Buffalo Trace uses does not horse around. American Cheese, as confounding as it is utterly shameless, belongs on this burger. It’s not cheese, but then again, American Bison are not Buffalo either.

For some food vendors, the tomato slice is an afterthought. It’s used for color, or to add to the burger’s overall height. Sometimes it’s used to lighten the crunch of the bun by adding moisture. Buffalo Trace continues these traditions but adds their own unique twist: The tomato is sliced and put in a container to rest in a shallow puddle of its juices (think: confit) for days at a time. As cheeseburgers are ordered, tomato slices are replaced with newer ones, but not in any particular order. This allows for the tomatoes to wet-age for unspecified periods, playfully messing with restaurant values like “consistency” and “hygiene.” Flavor ranges from “freshly cut this morning” to “mature” and everything in between.

Last but probably not least: the beef. Listed on the menu as "hearty hand-patted smoked on the Staxx smoker" they were not wrong about the noticeable pink ring on the outside of the meat. "representative of a smoked burger" was the line that should have warned us of the dry patty that was going to be in that styrofoam clam-shell nestled below a bag of Lay's potato chips, however, it was too late. Whatever moisture was in that beef when it was ground was smoked up to the heavens much like the limestone water vapor out of a copper still.

The bourbon was great, but the food was a definite Buffalo point.

After ordering the bung up for months I have noticed they barely put anything on them. Especially today.. it used to be a terrific deal now it’s not worth the $7 I’ll just go to the gas station in the Buffalo trace parking lot.

Closed, apparently due to pandemic. Website and Google not up to date