The Barton Rumors.

[cowdery]

There were rumors flying around the Gazebo Saturday about hard times at the newly renamed back to the old name Barton 1792 Distillery, specifically rumors that they had stopped distilling and might not resume.

I was shocked by this because I had just been there that afternoon seeing the investment they've made in tourism infrastructure. I couldn't believe they were doing that to show people a silent distillery. Since I got back I've talked to Mark Brown and Pam Gover, and can tell everyone that Barton's continuation as an active distillery is about as assured as anything is in this business.

I wrote some about it here and have more details to report, probably tomorrow. The new/old name officially takes effect next week.

[BradleyC]

I certainly hope they make it through whatever they are going through. It would be a sad loss if they don't.

Otherwise, you may have created a "hoarder's run" on their products.

Maybe A&E will make a show "Bourbon Hoarders" for those who suffer from whiskeynexarosa, or whatever that term was from a post a while back. I'm too lazy to search for it now and can't spell good enough to find it anway (although it was a great thread).

[2highcal]

Well that is good news as I have just recently "discovered" VOB BIB and have found it to be very good especially for the price and I do not feel so bad when using it to cook with either

[flintlock]

I'm glad they're on solid footing. It made no sense that they would be struggling - all the other distilleries seem to be booming. If they were shutting down, I'd have the city emptied of VOB 90 and 100 in about 3 hours.

I have to confess I didn't know there was a connection between VOB and Ridgemont Reserve. RR has never been on my radar. Are the whiskies related? Same mashbill, etc?

[callmeox]

I'm glad they're on solid footing. It made no sense that they would be struggling - all the other distilleries seem to be booming. If they were shutting down, I'd have the city emptied of VOB 90 and 100 in about 3 hours.

I have to confess I didn't know there was a connection between VOB and Ridgemont Reserve. RR has never been on my radar. Are the whiskies related? Same mashbill, etc?

Same distillery, different mashbill. Ridgemont is very high in malted barley compared to other bourbon brands and all of it comes from one specific warehouse on the grounds.

There's lots of info about it here in other threads.

[G.H.Adams]

That's good to hear as I like me some VOB BIB and 1792.

[tmckenzie]

Same distillery, different mashbill. Ridgemont is very high in malted barley compared to other bourbon brands and all of it comes from one specific warehouse on the grounds.

There's lots of info about it here in other threads.

I knew it had a different taste, but I did not know it was high in malt. Any idea on the mashbill?

[doubleblank]

I missed the Saturday night Gazebo, so couldn't spread my own Barton rumors. But Chuck's blog essentially confirmed what I had heard.

"Barton hadn't distilled for several months and wouldn't for some time."

Sources - Barton employees looking for jobs at other distilleries.

No grain deliveries since last year.

Minimal new barrel deliveries

I didn't hear from anyone that it would be shutting down for good. But if there becomes a surplus of capacity within the BT/Sazerac companies or predicted sales at retail don't materialize, it would make sense to idle one and run the other at high efficiencies. Of course, that assumes BT can replicate the Barton profiles, or vice versa (if that matters to BT).

Randy

[chefnash51]

Glad to see things aren't as bad as originally thought. RR 1792 is a great pour at a great price. Wish CT had access to VOB BIB, but the 90 is a tasty value too!

If they were shutting down, I'd have the city emptied of VOB 90 and 100 in about 3 hours.

now in case you missed the memo, if you put effort into locating a hard to get, no longer available, or on the way out whiskey, you are to forgo sharing with close friends who may not be on this site, send PMs to the entitled SBers, then post on this site so everyone has a fair share to get it.

I know I've gotten many tips on bottles like these before, in fact my box is almost filled with PMs with where to get bottles that fall into this category.

[ShewDawg]

Two great pours (VOB BIB and 1792) that I personally enjoy quite a bit. That tour was great getting to see the bottling and distillery operations along with the tour guide (Pam Glover mentioned by Chuck) was quite memorable for me. Agree with the sentiments above that hoarding would be going on, it's a shame that I can't get any BIB up in the NE, but 1792 is a great consolation. Thank you for sharing the information.

[cowdery]

I endorse hoarding because more sales will mean a longer distilling season. But Barton is not threatened. Arguably, it has been threatened with closure for years. In that regard, its future is more assured now than ever.

There are essentially four parts to the Barton 1792 Distillery; distilling, aging, bottling, and tourism. The aging facility was never threatened. That's the main reason Sazerac bought them. Bottling was second. Distilling was third and tourism wasn't going to happen if distilling didn't happen.

In distilling, Barton has gone through a period of correction. The previous owner had over-produced. Warehouses are nearly full. By buying Barton, Sazerac has been able to avoid building new warehouses, a big expensive bullet dodged. They are the only producer able to dodge it.

Inventory is now in balance so distilling going forward, starting this fall, will be nearly normal. As I noted in my blog post, Barton is set up so that when they distill, they distill a lot in a short time, about 180,000 gallons a week.

The folks at Sazerac have also concluded that Barton, and the rest of the Bardstown area distilleries, have a distinctive taste profile that differs from the Frankfort-Versailles profile. They think it adds to their ability to produce a variety of whiskeys.

Most of the jobs at any distillery are in bottling. The bottling line at Barton is the most flexible one in the company (and the company has five different bottling halls). The one at Barton is very good at cork finishes.

I know 'correction' isn't a consoling word to someone out of work, but going forward Barton will be fine.

[White Dog]

I endorse hoarding because more sales will mean a longer distilling season. But Barton is not threatened. Arguably, it has been threatened with closure for years. In that regard, its future is more assured now than ever.

There are essentially four parts to the Barton 1792 Distillery; distilling, aging, bottling, and tourism. The aging facility was never threatened. That's the main reason Sazerac bought them. Bottling was second. Distilling was third and tourism wasn't going to happen if distilling didn't happen.

In distilling, Barton has gone through a period of correction. The previous owner had over-produced. Warehouses are nearly full. By buying Barton, Sazerac has been able to avoid building new warehouses, a big expensive bullet dodged. They are the only producer able to dodge it.

Inventory is now in balance so distilling going forward, starting this fall, will be nearly normal. As I noted in my blog post, Barton is set up so that when they distill, they distill a lot in a short time, about 180,000 gallons a week.

The folks at Sazerac have also concluded that Barton, and the rest of the Bardstown area distilleries, have a distinctive taste profile that differs from the Frankfort-Versailles profile. They think it adds to their ability to produce a variety of whiskeys.

Most of the jobs at any distillery are in bottling. The bottling line at Barton is the most flexible one in the company (and the company has five different bottling halls). The one at Barton is very good at cork finishes.

I know 'correction' isn't a consoling word to someone out of work, but going forward Barton will be fine.

"The previous owner had over-produced." This seems funny to me, considering VOB was only sold in 3 or 4 states. All they have to do is bottle and release VOB BIB to the entire country to take care of the excess inventory. SB members alone could solve that "problem." I know that VOB wasn't the only thing made, but geez, open it up a bit.

[Virus_Of_Life]

"The previous owner had over-produced." This seems funny to me, considering VOB was only sold in 3 or 4 states. All they have to do is bottle and release VOB BIB to the entire country to take care of the excess inventory. SB members alone could solve that "problem." I know that VOB wasn't the only thing made, but geez, open it up a bit.

I agree 100% and that was my first thought as well. It probably wouldn't take anything more than 10-15 additional states to get distribution and the excess would be gone! Then it'd probably turn into a the opposite.

[Bourbon Boiler]

I also noticed that on the 1792 website, it mentions that tours are given on the hour every hour. IIRC, as Tom Moore, that facility was reservation only for tours. Has anyone gone on a "standard" tour in the last month that might comment?

http://www.1792bourbon.com/

[cowdery]

The soft opening of the new VC and new tour was May 2. The Grand Opening was May 10, so it hasn't even been a month yet. I saw the basic tour layout. It will cover the distillery, the bottling hall, and an aging warehouse, all on foot. You drive in off 31-E, (by the 1792 billboard, for those who know Bardstown) and the VC parking is at the bottom of the hill.

You also get to see the world's largest whiskey barrel.

[Bourbon Boiler]

The soft opening of the new VC and new tour was May 2. The Grand Opening was May 10, so it hasn't even been a month yet. I saw the basic tour layout. It will cover the distillery, the bottling hall, and an aging warehouse, all on foot. You drive in off 31-E, (by the 1792 billboard, for those who know Bardstown) and the VC parking is at the bottom of the hill.

You also get to see the world's largest whiskey barrel.

Thanks. I'll be sure to report my findings in a few weeks.

[cowdery]

Please do.

One thing I think they will have trouble with is that 31-E entrance. I think people are going to have trouble with that driveway, especially in any kind of bad weather. The other entrance is much easier to negotiate but much harder to find, so you're rolling the dice either way. I'll be interested to hear how you find it.

[craigthom]

I thought the plan was originally to build the visitor center off 62 west of town. That would be a lot more convenient, although maybe harder to find.

[cowdery]

That was the original plan but it died with the Sazerac sale. No one has ever outlined for me the merits of both and why the US-62 idea was quickly abandoned. I suspect it was the cost of new construction and the logic of putting the VC on the periphery of the property as opposed to in the heart of it, where it is now.

Most distilleries, and this is certainly true of Barton, have a lot of unused space, usually labeled as 'storage,' that is full of junk nobody is ever going to use. That was true of the space where the new VC is now, except for a small part of it that was being used as the office for finished goods logistics, which they have moved up to the finished goods warehouse on the hill.

Buffalo Trace has created several nice, new, usable spaces just by clearing out some old 'storage' rooms.

I'm sure one objective in both cases at Barton was to keep the tourist traffic away from the truck traffic, which uses the Barton Road entrance.

[mark fleetwood]

Just got back from Bardstown and 3 nice highlights.

1) New Barton tour seemed a bit out of sync. Hit the warehouse 500ft away first, then rolled through the grain dump/fermenters and distillery next, then through bottling and shipping. Think it makes best sense for tourists to see the facilities in order (distillery, warehouse, bottling) since not everyone knows the process for making whiskey like the back of their hand. I love the Barton facility because you see spirits making industry in the raw, with no beautification (think MM). BUT, there were still a decent number of trucks that rolled by on that road in between the VC and the warehouse and distillery AND the shipping area forklifts were busy... it might not take a big imagination to imagine a bad-enough tourist incident somewhere, some how, some day. Interested to hear what Bourbon Boiler thought of tour. His tour (or tour leader) may have been less disjointed.

2) Long live Liquor World.

3) I took a chance on the Moby Dick (since I'd seen it here somewhat positively reviewed, I think) and the bar area alone was jaw-dropping (from a control state). Up scale restaurants in Cincinnati don't have the impressive array MD displays. I've never been that close to an open bottle of Pappy23. (And the fish wasn't bad either.)

[Bourbon Boiler]

Just got back from Bardstown and 3 nice highlights.

1) New Barton tour seemed a bit out of sync. Hit the warehouse 500ft away first, then rolled through the grain dump/fermenters and distillery next, then through bottling and shipping. Think it makes best sense for tourists to see the facilities in order (distillery, warehouse, bottling) since not everyone knows the process for making whiskey like the back of their hand. I love the Barton facility because you see spirits making industry in the raw, with no beautification (think MM). BUT, there were still a decent number of trucks that rolled by on that road in between the VC and the warehouse and distillery AND the shipping area forklifts were busy... it might not take a big imagination to imagine a bad-enough tourist incident somewhere, some how, some day. Interested to hear what Bourbon Boiler thought of tour. His tour (or tour leader) may have been less disjointed.

2) Long live Liquor World.

3) I took a chance on the Moby Dick (since I'd seen it here somewhat positively reviewed, I think) and the bar area alone was jaw-dropping (from a control state). Up scale restaurants in Cincinnati don't have the impressive array MD displays. I've never been that close to an open bottle of Pappy23. (And the fish wasn't bad either.)

I'm still a few weeks away from my trip, but I'll be sure to report. It's been on the calendar since December, but it seems like it isn't getting any closer. :frown:

[cowdery]

The Barton tour is very new and a work-in-progress. I'm sure they would appreciate any feedback.

They are planning to plant some flowers and pretty it up a little, but I don't think it will lose any of its rawness as a result.

[Bourbon Boiler]

I hit Barton last Friday. We were in two cars that got sperated, and none of us know Bardstown that well. Both cars had trouble finiding the distillery, and ended up coming in different entrances and had to sign in and different guard shacks. This wasn't a big deal, but it shows that they're not really pushing the tour to make people stop in impulsively.

First of all, all of the employees in the gift shop and on the tour were EXTREMELY friendly. We had five people in our vacationing group, and we were the only ones going on our tour time. They held the tour up for 5 minutes at our request to accomidate another friend coming into town to see Barton.

There was nothing about the tour that really stood out from the other 7 distilleries we saw in a 30 hour span, particularly as they were in a shutdown. (They seemed to imply that the shutdown would be much shorter than what has been reported elsewhere, but I didn't press them on the statements.)

As said above, the tour seemed a little rough. There were no designated "tour areas" as denoted by lines on the floor or anything. One member of our group is actually pricing shrink wrap equpiment for his manufacturing plant, so he was able to watch the equipment at Barton for a few minutes without being hurried along. It was very relaxed and flexible, but I think they would be unable to accomodate a larger group in this format.

The tasting was excellent as well. When my brother was asked what he thought after sampling 1792, he replied, "I feel confient and more handsome," drawing a good laugh from the employees.

[cowdery]

The Village of Bardstown is notoriously restrictive about signs, which may be why the official entrance was hard to find. They even give people a hard time about signs on their own property.

[Bourbon Boiler]

The Village of Bardstown is notoriously restrictive about signs, which may be why the official entrance was hard to find. They even give people a hard time about signs on their own property.

Interesting. I understand the desire to reduce clutter, but you'd think advertising something that encourages travel into the city would be welcomed.