Josh Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 While I was bugging her last Wednesday, he dark-haired, olive-skinned Woman of Mystery at 4R (see that thread), mentioned that Barton was in the process of making itself more accessible to tourists. I interpreted this to mean a giftshop, visitors center, the obligatory short movie, regular tours, et al. She didn't mention which Barton facility, tho. Anybody else know anything more? I luvs me some Barton, so I'm pretty excited about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I believe you are referring to Diane, though FR may have moved her up to the office and relaced her with another young lady.As for Barton, IIRC, they have planning this for some time now. I was told over a year ago that this was on the books. As far as I know, Barton only has one bourbon facility....the one in Bardstown. Do they currently own a still in Owensboro? I believe it may only be the bottling line??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 As for Barton, IIRC, they have planning this for some time now. I was told over a year ago that this was on the books. As far as I know, Barton only has one bourbon facility....the one in Bardstown. Do they currently own a still in Owensboro? I believe it may only be the bottling line??? I stand corrected. I was thinking of my cousin Jeb Barton who does own a still in Owensboro. They do have two facilities in Bardstown itself, tho, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Barton is planning to open a visitor's center next year at the distillery in Bardstown. The site and been picked and the director has been hired. The site (see attached) is a piece of ground on the high plateau part of their warehouse area. It most likely will be accessed from US-62 and will have its own entrance, rather than through one of the two existing entrances. The director is Pam Gover, who ran the Kentucky Bourbon Festival from its inception. No word on what it will include, such as whether or not there will be an actual distillery tour. The location close to the warehouses suggests that at least a warehouse visit will be part of it. Barton has no other facilities in Bardstown and their other Kentucky facility is in Owensboro, where they have bottling and warehouses. Anything that gets warehoused there gets bottled there, but most of Barton's straight bourbons are distilled, aged and bottled in Bardstown. The plan is to have a grand opening during the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Thanks chuck! You're a national treasure. And may I say its about damn time. Barton is the best bourbon at its price point, hands down. They need to start taking marketing seriously! I have several good liquor sources nearby, but its still a pain to find VOB. And even then its only the red label, I had to go 350 mi to find the green 86! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Josh,What Barton brands have you tried and liked, so far? I have not noticed that Barton had different colors on their VOB labels....what do each stand for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinjoe Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Josh,What Barton brands have you tried and liked, so far? I have not noticed that Barton had different colors on their VOB labels....what do each stand for?Each proof of VOB has a different trim color on the main label, and I believe the neck label may have the same different and corresponding color swatch. 100 proof BIB is white, 90 is light reddish, 86 is green, 80 is deep red red. The BIB is different, in that the white is over most of the label, while the others have basically the same label, with just a smal amount of trim in the different colors.JOE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Each proof of VOB has a different trim color on the main label, and I believe the neck label may have the same different and corresponding color swatch. 100 proof BIB is white, 90 is light reddish, 86 is green, 80 is deep red red. The BIB is different, in that the white is over most of the label, while the others have basically the same label, with just a smal amount of trim in the different colors.JOEThanks Joe,The very first bottle of VOB that I ever saw and purchased was in Atlanta, a little over a year ago off the Buford Highway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Josh,What Barton brands have you tried and liked, so far? I have not noticed that Barton had different colors on their VOB labels....what do each stand for?The only VOB's I've been able to find around here are the deep red 80 proofers, and they were pretty much dusties. I got the Green 86 for the first time in KY last week. At Liquor Barn (I believe it was the one on Richmond Rd. in Lexington) it was only a couple dollars more than the 80 proof. I think they had the white BIB 100 too. I haven't cracked it open yet, but I will as soon as I finish the bottle of Harper I've been nursing.On the other hand, the big perfume bottles of 1792 are everywhere. The first bottle of that I tried was really really off. I felt like I was drinking isopropyl alcohol. The nose was just awful. I've heard that it can vary substantially from batch to batch so I may give it another chance down the line, but I'll stick with VOB for now, when I can get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Here is the Barton line-up....many others to choose from if you can find them.My two favorite Bibs are Tom Moore and Col. Lee. I have not found a Ky. Gent, yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 My two favorite Bibs are Tom Moore and Col. Lee. I have not found a Ky. Gent, yet. Heh, no comment about the difficulty in finding a KY Gentleman. I feel like I've seen some of those others, but I don't remember where. I'll look for them next time I need to stock up. How do they compare to VOB IYO? And how do they compare price-wise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I have found many Kentucky Gentlmen and women....just not any Bottled in Bond. :grin: I find that there is only a slight difference between most of the Barton products....barring the 1792. The batch differences between some of the labels is hard to nail down...since many of the bottles I have sampled have been dusty. I find that my memories "taste profiles" differ greatly from others, since I don't taste current bottles very often. Tom Moore Bib being the exception..I buy it regularly. I find it to be bolder than many other Barton profiles because of the wood characteristics. It just seems like they have found a unique flavor for this label. The only way I can describe it is....it taste like they use a different type of oak for the barrels -or- different/deeper char level.BTW, all of the Barton dusties I have tasted are superb.ps Barton's prices are always around the lowest in the industry for Bib products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I have never seen a Kentucky Gentleman BIB yet either. However, I did locate some Kentucky Tavern BIB practically in my own back yard. After looking through many different stores in Ky., Florida and other various places, I stumbled across a listing for it on the Ohio dept. of liquor control website after fellow SB'er Callmeox mentioned in another thread that ODLC's website had been up dated and now had a list of brands (good job Callmeox). I called up their headquarters in Columbus and the first store location they gave me was about 15 miles from my house, 5 miles from where I work and about 10 blocks from my wife's office. As an added coincidence, I was meeting my wife for lunch that day and within 1 hour I had a bottle in my possession. If anyone wants any, send me a PM!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourbonJoe Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Who's making the Kentucky Tavern BiB these days?Joe :usflag: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 The bottle I recently bought says distilled at DSP-KY-12 and bottled at DSP-KY-24. and then goes on to state that it is bottled by Glenmore Distillers Co. Owensboro, KY. I know there is a thread on here that lists the different DSP plants but I haven't gotten around to memorizing them yet!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozilla Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 DSP 12 is Barton in Bardstown.DSP 24 is the old Glenmore facility in Owensboro. Barton picked this up when Diageo was forming...somewhere in the 90's. I believe the stills went silent there in the early 90's, though their state of the art bottling facility stayed open through numerous owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 The distilling part of DSP 24 was demolished while Glenmore still owned it. They were using the still at the adjacent Medley Distillery and running the two facilities in tandem. Now DSP 24, which is just warehousing and bottling, is owned by Barton and Medley is owned and being reopened by Angostura. If Barton or some subsequent owner wants to distill at DSP 24, they'll be starting from stratch.I find it amusing that Kentucky Gentleman was created as a Kentucky Tavern knock-off and now that Barton owns both, they can't keep them straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoshani Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 I find it amusing that Kentucky Gentleman was created as a Kentucky Tavern knock-off and now that Barton owns both, they can't keep them straight. Aw heck, that's easy. Kentucky Tavern is wheat--...oh. Guess not anymore. (For a time, when UD owned it, Ky Tavern was being made at Bernheim to the Old Fitzweller Yell mashbill.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 If KT was ever wheated it was only for that very brief period but I doubt even that, as Glenmore/UD had plenty of rye-recipe bourbon at the time. I think some people just assumed they were using Stitzel-Weller after the merger, but they forgot about Medley in Owensboro, which had been producing up to that point, as well as the Old Bernheim whiskey, of which there was plenty. I've heard this before, that KT was SW at some point, but I'm not convinced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourbonv Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Chuck,From 1993 till they sold the brand to Barton, United Distillers was using Stitzel-Weller bourbon in Kentucky Tavern. There was never enough Medley whiskey to support the brand, which was a fairly large case amount under Glenmore. It was United Distillers that caused the brand to slip in sales due to lack of support.Anyway, United had Stitzel-Weller bourbon to spare because of over production and they did not want to start up Medley to support a brand they were probably already looking to sell, so Kentucky Tavern had wheated bourbon in the bottle for about 4 years.Mike Veach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Thanks. I knew it was something like that, a brief period during that transition. KT was never, historically, a wheated bourbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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