Barton

[Rutherford]

Put me in the bucket of people who thinks Barton makes Sazerac's best bourbon. VOB is a great product at a great price. 1792 is even better, as I find it to be more complex and less hot. Barton's yeast imparts a superior flavor to that seen in BT products.

[squire]

I have always liked the Barton flavor profile and when there's a choice select the 100 proof.

[tmckenzie]

Put me in the bucket of people who thinks Barton makes Sazerac's best bourbon. VOB is a great product at a great price. 1792 is even better, as I find it to be more complex and less hot. Barton's yeast imparts a superior flavor to that seen in BT products.

I am not sure it is the yeast. I have been told that they do not double at barton. Which would explain a lot.

[p_elliott]

I am not sure it is the yeast. I have been told that they do not double at barton. Which would explain a lot.

They never showed us at Barton what yeast they used. BT uses Red Star.

[Rutherford]

Red Star produces yeast for BT under contract, using BT's proprietary yeast strain. Barton (and other distilleries) may very well receive yeast from Red Star as well, just using different strains.

[doubleblank]

I am not sure it is the yeast. I have been told that they do not double at barton. Which would explain a lot.

A group from SB took a tour of Barton about 5 years ago, more or less. We went thru the distillation control room and the operator said (I will paraphrase)...."While we have a doubler on the column, we usually don't use it". Really.....why not? "With our new control systems, we can make a good tasting clean product without it".

[Young Blacksmith]

That's great info! I also love the barton flavor profile, usually, and their price point doesn't hurt any either. Especially nice when you have a little cold and your taste buds are screwed up, the flavor punches through.

I did have one bottle of VOB BIB that got too banana for my tastes though.

[T Comp]

I did have one bottle of VOB BIB that got too banana for my tastes though.

[Young Blacksmith]

That's good news. I have one unopened with a DSP-KY-113 bottling statement. I would think that would be new product. I'm sure I will be tempted before Christmas to pop it open, but getting oral surgery tomorrow so will be a week or so.

[squire]

Randy it's my understanding Barton whisky came off the beer still at 125 proof and into a copper doubler where it increased to 135 proof, to then be cut back to barreling proof of 125, but my information is at least 20 years old. Wonder when they stopped using the doubler.

[tmckenzie]

A group from SB took a tour of Barton about 5 years ago, more or less. We went thru the distillation control room and the operator said (I will paraphrase)...."While we have a doubler on the column, we usually don't use it". Really.....why not? "With our new control systems, we can make a good tasting clean product without it".

[doubleblank]

Randy it's my understanding Barton whisky came off the beer still at 125 proof and into a copper doubler where it increased to 135 proof, to then be cut back to barreling proof of 125, but my information is at least 20 years old. Wonder when they stopped using the doubler.

On our tour we first saw the column and then the control room. They had left the older analog controllers mounted on the control board but were currently running the column off of a desk top computer. Anyway, the older fella giving us this part of the tour was clear that he normally didn't run the doubler as the newer contol system made great whiskey without it. But at that time there was a doubler/thumper installed. On further reflection, it was longer than 5 years ago when we took this tour....probably closer to 7 years and there were about 15 SB'ers there. They also took us to rickhouse "Z" (IIRC) and let me thief a liter bottle of barrel proof 1792 for the Gazebo table.

[CaptainQ]

They also took us to rickhouse "Z" (IIRC) and let me thief a liter bottle of barrel proof 1792 for the Gazebo table.

Now that would be some Barton I would love to try. I bet it was :yum:

Thanks for the information Randy.

[Brisko]

I was told by a person who knows, and I have an old diagram of the barton plant that has no doubler in it. Now, here is my thoughts, and I am inending on provong it myself in a few months. You do not need to double technically speaking. Those columns are designed in such away that nothing harmful or relly bad tasting gets into the product. Depends on your school of thought. Barton whiskey has a certin "bite" to it. Not bad in my opinion, in fact I like it. Smoothness is not important to me as long as there is enough body in the whiskey to offset it. Which barton has. There are 3 ways to double. If you condense and send it to a seperate pot and redistill. This takes out a ton of taste. You continuos doubler which takes out some taste but not as much as the fist way I mentioned, or you can thump, which tends to leave a lot of taste in. Or, you cannot double and leave a lot of taste in. Which is why I think barton makes such a flavorful product. I have tatsed whiskey straight off the column and after the doubler. I prefer the taste right off the column. My theory has always been if you leave more congeners in the white dog, you have more stuff for the barrel to make flavor from. Which is one thing holing a lot of micros back. Too clean a white dog.

Might explain why VOB gives me a headache, too. For whatever reason I'm sensitive to more congeneric whiskeys (nothing an aspirin won't cure) and I was a little surprised by VOB in that regard.

[cowdery]

Barton has a doubler and the official word regarding its use is that they use it when they need to. What determines if they will double or not is a detail we probably won't get out of them. Doubling and gone in and out of fashion in the business but now it's largely in, so I suspect that for their bourbons, especially their better ones, they double. For something destined to go into a blend, for example, it may not be necessary. Doubling isn't necessary for proof. Distillers say it 'polishes' the spirit, removing some of the more stubborn unpleasant cogeners.

[JDC20]

Might explain why VOB gives me a headache, too. For whatever reason I'm sensitive to more congeneric whiskeys (nothing an aspirin won't cure) and I was a little surprised by VOB in that regard.

I experience the same phenomenon with Barton products. I thought it might have just been random but after repeating my "study" many times, results stay the same. It's a shame, I really like VOB.

[tmckenzie]

Straight of of the man mans mouth at Red Star, which is now Fermentis. Red star whiskey yeast is an old Schenley strain. Which used to own BT. All distilleries using Red Star all use the same strain.

[Ejmharris]

I experience the same phenomenon with Barton products. I thought it might have just been random but after repeating my "study" many times, results stay the same. It's a shame, I really like VOB.

I think I have identified the problem:

Really like VOB = heavy pours = headache

[Old Lamplighter]

The breakneck pace of the Pappy 'evolution' + the frantic onrush to hunt down BTAC, coupled with price increases & allocation, should result in somewhat of a boon to good quality standbys such as VOB, OGD & others. Of course, when the $$ all leads back to Sazerac or Beam, I guess said companies cannot be concerned with losing customers for the high end stuff since it is allegedly in short supply as it is.

Recently, I brought home a VOB 100 after having ignored it for many a year. It is much better than I remember and at least for me, was a natural place to turn after finding nothing but rising prices on everything else that I would have normally considered. All in all, if I'm 'confined' to Barton, all is well.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Old Lamplighter

[squire]

Polishes the whisky, eh? Guess that's a nice way of saying it gets the hog tracks out.

[JDC20]

I think I have identified the problem:

Really like VOB = heavy pours = headache

Theres probably a little truth in that equation.

[tmckenzie]

Polishes the whisky, eh? Guess that's a nice way of saying it gets the hog tracks out.

Sometimes you need a few hawg tracks.