It’s been a mixed week of news for the venerable Buffalo Trace. With the loss of an icon and master distiller emeritus Elmer T. Lee last week, no doubt the joy in this most recent announcement was celebrated solemnly and seen as bittersweet at best. Nevertheless, kudos to the distillery for becoming a National Historic Landmark, a prestige only given to 2,577 highly selected locations in the United States. In celebration, the distillery will begin hosting a tour specifically aimed at the architecture, buildings and history of the distillery from 1933-1953. [Buffalo Trace]

In other historic news, Fortune goes behind the scenes of Pilsner Urquell, discussing its lasting success and unveiling the secrets to its recent sales resurgence in the United States. [Fortune]

Decanter offers up the amazing recent news that only one person out of a pool of 70 applicants recently passed the latest Master Sommelier exam given in Dallas last week. The answer? Tougher questions, a greater emphasis on the analytical, and attempts to make the exam much more demanding than in previous years. [Decanter]

Huffington Post’s Rebecca Orchant takes on Google with her predictions for the most widely searched whiskey keywords on the internet versus the actual results. Google also has a complete 8 year keyword history for “whiskey” archived. Quite interesting to see how trends change slightly over time, even though there are few that simply dominate every month (Jack Daniels, for example). [Huffington Post]

This week marks the final round in Bunnahabhain’s bottle hunt, where each week the distillery has been giving away increasingly rarer bottles for folks who can geographically pinpoint the closest location for each photo posted on its Facebook page. Needless to say, it’s been a fun exercise in discovering Islay through the wonder that is Google Earth and Google Maps. Hop on over and enter to win a bottle of Fèis Ìle this week. [Bunnahabhain]

And finally today, 45 year old Joaquín Alcaraz Gracia entered a beer drinking contest in Spain where in a span of 20 minutes, he proceeded to down 13 pints, easily besting his competition. Unfortunately, the man immediately collapsed and was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest shortly afterward at a local hospital. While we try not to get too preachy with our news coverage, this is just another reminder of how moderation is the best remedy to any consumption. Drink smart and drink safely. [The Inquisitr]

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