Remember the millennium, Y2K (Year 2000), the end of the world? There were dire predictions that the world would cease to exist because of the way dates were coded in computer software. Some of the predictions included massive computer failures, planes falling from the sky, electrical grid failure, banks unable to account for deposits.

Nothing. Happy New Year. The year 2000 came in with barely a whimper.

Over in Frankfort, Ky. there were people working at Buffalo Trace Distillery. They weren’t waiting for the end of the world as we knew it. They were instead filling a special bourbon barrel.

Buffalo Trace Millennium Barrel collector case.

That bourbon barrel was then tucked away in Warehouse V. The distillery says it is the smallest bonded single barrel warehouse in the world. It brings to mind the scene at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” movie where the crate holding the discovered Ark of the Covenant was being warehoused.

Now the Millennium Barrel of bourbon has been opened and poured into 174 bottles. The distillery is offering those bottles to 501C-3 Non-profit charitable organizations for fundraising through auctions or silent auctions etc.

Wow, what a discovery. Each bottle is packaged in a numbered, lined hardwood showcase box that includes a piece of the charred oak barrel stave.

Here’s what non-profits need to do to request a Buffalo Trace Millennium Bottle:

• Submit an official Non-Profit Tax ID number
• Be based in the United States
• Auction the bottle within the 2011 calendar year

There are two weeks remaining for organizations to submit their request.

Here is the link for the Buffalo Trace Millennium Barrel request form.

Now this is the way to celebrate Y2K.

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