BARTON DISTILLERY 1792 RIDGEMONT

BARTON DISILLERY   

1792 RIDGEMONT

AKA The Tom  Moore Distillery

Our second stop was to the Barton Distillery which, by contrast, is the world third largest distillery. It opened in 1876 by Mattingly Moore and Tom Moore took it over in 1879.  Prohibition did a number on these distilleries and by 1934 the original distillery was torn down.  In 1937-1944 Moore’s son and bank ran it but the son had no interest in the business.  Oscar Getz purchased the distillery and named it Barton.  There is a whiskey museum in Bardstown housing all of Getz’s memorabilia.  It was used as a “cash cow” for its next owners.  In disrepair and at threat of closing, Sazerac Company ( also owners of Buffalo Trace) bought the distillery and poured money into the operation.  Along with the manufacture of VOB and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve, many of Sazerac’s other spirits are bottled here.  It was a lifeline that saved 180 jobs and kept a distillery functioning in the Bourbon Capital.

This distillery primarily uses coal for heating and all the coal comes from Eastern Kentucky.  We entered the VOB (Very Old Bourbon) rack house.  There is what is called “distiller’s mold” which turns everything black.  I always noticed on the sides of the white rack houses that it looked black and moldy.  In the old days the authorities searching for stills would look for the black mold on the trees!  Can’t get away with anything ….. until the stills became more mobile then they’d move them through the woods and the mold wouldn’t be so bad ….. hah!

 Because of the weight of these barrels, about 500 lbs each and the numbers of them stored (in the thousands) it is very important that the weight distribution be correct.  From the top of the rafters to the bottom floor is a plumb line.  This indicates the degree of leaning of the building and the need to rearrange the barrels.

These rack buildings are original.  Nothing is changed.  I think the dirt is original also.

Our guide mentioned the forest animals that feast off the corn from the trucks and come into the rack house.  One day she saw a drunken ground hog that had been licking the weeping barrels too much.  The rack houses have 274 windows and the beams would lay out 60 miles.  In its day it cost $50K to build, today it would be $2.5M so you can see why these rick houses are salvaged as much as possible.

You can purchase your very own barrel for $5,000.  They will bottle it up for you and send it to a distributor of your choice for pick up.  You then can keep the barrel.  A barrel yields about 210 bottles.

The grain trucks come in from Kansas and Indiana.  Barton’s has used the same farmers for fifty years.  The grain is sampled for  impurities then loaded up into the silos where it is then made ready for the mashers.  The operation is so much larger than The Ketucky Bourbon Distillery by size and volume.

Next we went into the distilling area.  Compare these stills with the one from the smaller distillery!

 THIS IS AN ORIGINAL STILL FROM BACK IN THE DAY!

THIS IS THE MODERN STILL.  BOTH STILLS ARE IN USE.

In addition to making fine bourbon whiskey, it is also a bottling plant for other Sazarac's products.

MASSON BRANDY

FILL'ER UP!

From here we went to the tasting room where we tasted the VOB and 1792 Ridgemont.  

My preference was the VOB.  It tasted smoother to my uninitiated palate.  Dave liked them both .... as you'd expect!

End to a perfect BOURBON DAY.....almost.

For dinner we went to the historic Old Talbott Tavern, circa 1779. Since the late 1700’s the Old Talbott Tavern has provided shelter, food and drink.  It is said to the oldest western stagecoach stop in America as the westward expansion brought explorers from the east into Kentucky. Abe Lincoln and his family stayed here, Daniel Boone and exiled French King Louis Phillipe and his entourage stayed here (probably on his way to LA). 

We had a Old Kentucky Hot Brown which is ham and turkey on toast points with cheese mornay sauce, tomato and bacon strip.  To accompany our meal we chose the five shot Bourbon Sampler consisting of........

Blanton’s Single Barrel

Booker’s Small Batch (130 proof)

Knob Creek 9 yr small batch

Bulleit, Knob Creek 9 year small batch

Maker’s 46.  

For dessert I had aBourbon Ball (Buffalo Trace bourbon, butterscotch Schnapps and irish cream) and Dave had Southern Sweet Tea (Bourbon, Tea and  mango juice). 

Sitting in the dining room with its old stone walls, I could picture 200 years of travelers coming through this Inn and having a grog and supper.  You could feel the history in the place.

 So ended our May 23rd.  Home to Billy and a lovely evening walk.   LIFE IS GOOD.