Barton 1792 Distillery
A visit to the Barton 1792 Distillery is a bit different than many of the other distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. When we entered the distillery grounds, the first thing that struck us was how industrial looking the distillery was. Unlike many of the other Kentucky distilleries, which have well manicured picturesque grounds, the Barton 1792 Distillery is all business. Throughout the tour we were amongst 18 wheelers, loading docks, and constant activity, even though our visit was during their summertime distilling shutdown.
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Our tour began outside near the old visitor center. As we took in the sprawling distillery grounds, our tour guide, Frank, regaled us with the history of the Barton 1792 Distillery. After the distillery was established it operated continuously until it was shut down during prohibition. Finding themselves with 45,000 barrels of whiskey, they sold these to the Stitzel-Weller Distillery and Brown-Forman. The distillery was then resurrected in 1934 by Tom Moore’s son, Con. It was then sold to Oscar Getz and Lester Abelson who renamed it Barton, a name that Getz allegedly literally pulled out of a hat. Soon after taking control, like many of the distilleries during World War II, operations were converted to produce industrial alcohol for the war effort. After the war, Barton was converted back to a beverage alcohol distillery, and was operated under Getz until his retirement in 1983. It subsequently changed hands multiple times until finally being purchased by the Sazerac Company in 2009.
After our history lesson, our first stop was Warehouse H. This 7 story behemoth holding 22,000 barrels is the largest of Barton’s 29 warehouses. Honestly, after their all too recent warehouse collapse in 2018 it was a little disconcerting being inside this old building. While whiskey is stored to age in the ricks throughout this building, the lower levels of this warehouse, floors 1-3, are used for aging Paul Mason brandy. The used bourbon barrels are refilled on site with the brandy, then aged for 2-3 years.
After emerging from Warehouse H, we had a nice overview of many of the distillery buildings. To our right there was the large building which houses the 9 bottling lines in use at Barton, but unfortunately a peek inside was not part of our tour. We then walked past the 18 large outdoor fermenters on our way to the distillery proper. Grain is ground utilizing the two onsite mills which can grind 1000 pounds per minute. Barton uses 8-10 truckloads of corn daily, obtained from farms within a 75 mile radius of the distillery.
After grinding, the grains head to the two 12,500 gallon cookers where 2500 gallons of backset is mixed in with the freshly milled grains. Once cooked, the mash then heads to one of the 18 outdoor fermenters, and after a few days of fermentation, it’s off to the still. The still is impressive. While we could only see the lowest portion of it from the ground level, it is “still” (I’m here all week) impressive! The still measure 55 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter. At the top, well beyond our view, there is a doubler which puts out the final 138 proof product at 35 gallons a minute. Interestingly, in the same room are three additional column stills that are no longer used. It would be prohibitively expensive for Sazerac to remove them, so they were just left in place. Approximately 750-800 barrels of bourbon are produced daily. Every drop is barreled and aged on site. Aging is 3-6 years for the Very Old Barton line and 7-10 years for the 1792 line (except for the 1792 Aged Twelve Years, which is, well, aged 12 years). The barrels are eventually dumped and the bourbon bottled on one of the 9 bottling lines.
There are many additional Sazerac products produced at this distillery, including Ten High, Kentucky Gentleman, Kentucky Tavern, and a host of others.
Our tour concluded back at the onsite visitor center for a tasting which included Very Old Barton Bourbon, 1792 Small Batch Bourbon and Barton 1792 Chocolate Bourbon Ball Cream Liqueur.
A visit to the Barton 1792 Distillery gives one a taste of a completely different type of distillery than all the others on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. It is definitely worth a visit, and a great thing about it is, it’s free!
Click here to see a short video of our visit
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Please note that due to COVID Distillery Hours and Tour/Tasting Availability may vary. Please contact the distillery or check their web page or social media for details before you go.
| Days of operation | Monday - Saturday 9 - 4:30 (During COVID-19) |
Paved Drive / Lot | Parking lot |
Motorcycle Parking | No designated parking |
| Motorcycle unfriendly features | The new gift shop has a parking lot. The old visitor center has unpaved/roughly paved off-camber access and parking |
Number of tours per day | By reservation only during COVID-19. |
Length of Tour(s) | 45 minutes |
Advanced topic tours? | No |
Advanced topic tour names | N/A |
Tours by owners /distillers available? | No |
Number of different types of tours | 1 |
On-Line Tour Reservations Available | By telephone reservation only during COVID-19 |
Advanced Reservations Recommended/Required | Required |
| Cost for tour(s) in $ | Free |
Tasting Included? | Yes |
| Number of samples included in tasting | 3 |
| Tasting Only Option? | Yes |
| Tasting Only Option Cost | Free |
High-end tasting option? | No |
High-end tasting option cost? | N/A |
Designated Driver Option | N/A - Tours and Tastings are free |
Handicapped Accessible? | For the most part. Some surfaces may be rough and off camber |
| Souvenirs included with tour? | No |
Gift shop | Yes |
On-Site bottle sales? | Yes |
| On-site food: Restaurant/Cafe/Snacks | No |
| On-site Cocktail bar | No |
| On-site event space | No |
| Should I visit? (Yes, Perhaps, No) | Yes |
| Unique Features | Industrial distillery, an interesting contrast to many of the others on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail |
Website | |
| Date Visited | July 2020 |
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