Two significant awards garnered in 2024 by Barton 1792 Distillery signal what many American whiskey fans know: It’s a great distillery making fantastic bourbon and rye. For me, those wins reaffirm my preference for Barton as my favorite distillery under the Sazerac ownership umbrella.
In July, Barton 1792 Full Proof Bourbon was chosen Best in Show at the Singapore World Spirits Competition, and in February, its Aged 12 years Bourbon was selected Best Bourbon at the 2024 World Whiskies Awards. Swell accolades for one of the oldest distilleries in America.
When I finally came onto bourbon long ago, Barton was the first distillery I toured. I valued its old, gritty feel, its visible and palpable history. That “Barton Cologne”—ever-present airborne aromas of cooking mash and aging whiskey detectable in Bardstown’s historic district—always makes me smile.
Today, my appreciation of Barton whiskeys is simple. They’re bolder, bigger and richer than so many whiskeys on the market, including anything affordable from Buffalo Trace.
But my preference for Barton over Buffalo Trace centers some on its reputation of underdog in the Sazerac family. On what do I base that?
For one, there’s no visitor experience. Pre-Covid, about 80,000 visitors visited Barton annually. And while that’s only a quarter of Buffalo Trace’s 2022 traffic, it’s still impressive. When I got a look at the space that was set aside for the visitor experience upgrade, I was told Sazerac had committed $3 million to the remodel. But during Covid, when prices for construction materials shot skyward, the estimated cost rose to $5 million and the idea was nixed.
It’s hard to criticize Sazerac for that move, especially since creating modern spaces in ancient buildings always costs more than expected. Letting Barton become a full-time workhorse saved millions of dollars. And seeing that Sazerac bought Early Times whiskey in 2020, it was equally logical to let Barton’s 1960s-era still crank out that brand away from the maddening crowds at Buffalo Trace.
But the no-tourism-expense spared mindset at Buffalo Trace can make the preferred-brand status easy to infer. Otherwise, why not keep crowds engaged with the brand at that wonderfully gritty old distillery? (I’m sure Sazerac has many answers to that question.)
At least single-barrel picks are better at Barton. My first pick ever happened there on a frigid winter day; the outdoor temp was 18 degrees and I was wondering why anyone thought this was fun. But as soon as the thieving and sipping began, I got it: Nosing and tasting 131-proof whiskey in a rickhouse was amazing.
Back in July, I helped pick a Barton barrel for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival at cask strength. Though we chose to bottle it bonded, we still enjoyed the full experience of bourbon the way it’s supposed to be, au naturale, this time in a sticky-hot rickhouse. That doesn’t happen at Buffalo Trace anymore, where everything is proofed for the bottle beforehand.
It’s fair to allow that there are benefits to the lack of attention given Barton. For one, the master distillers there are easily accessible. The odds of you bumping into them in Bardstown on any given workday are actually pretty good.
In 2018, Danny Kahn, a career and VP-level brewer at Budweiser and a few notable craft brands, took to the post of master distiller at Barton like a kid in a candy store. He loved the facility’s lack of modernity partly because it fit Bardstown’s historic vibe. Mostly, though, he loved its whiskey.
In 2022, when Kahn added the title of distillation/aging operations director to his Sazerac résumé, Ross Cornelisson took over as master distiller. A veteran of the MGPI Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ind., it wasn’t surprising that Cornellison got all the feels for another old whiskey plant. Like Kahn, Cornellisson thrives on the challenge of improving processes and products in a hands-on distillery. Instead of griping about older equipment, he seems charmed by it. Rare visitors (single barrel buyers, mostly) who sense that enthusiasm catch it, too.
Sazerac knows it has a deep, deep bench of fantastic brands. I’m sure the company disagrees with me on these matters. But if there’s any parting thought I’d leave is this: Reconsider that visitor center experience. I’d hate to think that my generation was the last to see that beautiful, old distillery.
