1792 Ridgemont Reserve - BourbonSphere

If I had a Benjamin ($100)…By Chris

Recently the guys at Modern Thirst proposed a nearly impossible question to a slew of bourbon writers, “If you had $100 to spend on American whiskey, what would you buy right now at your local store?” This sounds like an easy question, but the more I thought about it, the harder it became. Am I sipping it or making cocktails? Is it just for me, or am I taking it to enjoy with friends? What’s the temperature outside? Did I have a good or a bad day at work? What’s new that I haven’t tried? Are there any store pick single barrels available? What can I even get today? Which direction is the wind blowing?

These questions notwithstanding, it seems like what you can actually find changes daily depending on the bourbon trade winds. For example, Elmer T. Lee would easily be on my list, but you can’t find it anymore. The quality of Eagle Rare has gone down so much that it got the boot. Weller 12 has become nearly as hard to find as the notorious Van Winkle line. Our beloved Kentucky Tavern BIB is discontinued and Ancient Ancient Age 10 year is on hiatus for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s almost as if we’re cursed to see every reasonably priced bourbon we fall in love with fade into obscurity. With all this in mind, I decided to cheat a little and come up with two scenarios. First, what do I keep consistently stocked at my house and replace as needed, and second, what would I bring to a party where I don’t know the tastes of the people coming. Both are based on what I know I can get nearby right now, or at least with relative ease. There would be some overlap between the two lists, but for the sake of keeping it interesting I’m going to only allow each bourbon to appear once. We’ll link to everyone’s responses once they come out and you can read Darren’s response here.

What’s always in my bar?

As you might imagine, this changes constantly and has taken over way more space than it probably should. But there are a few things that I always have around. Our readers know that we at BOTB like good values and Swiss Army Knives of bourbon that can be excellent sippers as well as make a delicious cocktail. Here’s what I’ve always got on hand:

Knob Creek Single Barrel ($35-40) – This is just a great all around bourbon at a damn fine 120 proof that allows it to be sipped neat, put on ice, or put in a Manhattan and it still shines through. I prefer the store select bottles, so go for that if you can find it.

1792 Ridgemont Reserve ($25) – One of our favorites. Easy drinking, always pleasant, good in a cocktail, and a damn good value for a blend of 8-10 year old bourbons. If you can find a store select single barrel, again, go for that. I have a stash of some single barrel from Kroger of all places, which is delicious.

Ancient Ancient Age 10 Star ($12-15) – This is my go-to everyday mixer. A 6ish year old blend of the higher rye mashbill from Buffalo Trace, this always hits the spot. And yea, I know you can’t get this one in the state of Kentucky, but if you know anyone outside of the state I’m sure you can figure it out.

Weller Antique 107 ($22-25, it seems to change daily) – Weller Antique is always in my top 5 bourbons. Great price, great flavor, solid proof. That’s really all it takes to make me happy. This tastes like apple pie to me and makes any day better. And yea, yea, I know this is becoming hard to find now. But if you keep your eyes open, it’s reasonably easy to find. And you know what, I love it, so there.

What do I bring to a party?

Four Roses Single Barrel ($35) – For some reason a lot of people still don’t know about Four Roses. They need to, and that’s why I like to bring this for people to try. On second thought, maybe I should stop doing this. You can pry my Four Roses Single Barrel from my cold, dead hands!

Very Old Barton BIB ($12-15) – Bottled-in-Bond bourbons are delicious, interesting, and filled with history. It’s hard to find a BIB expression that isn’t at least pretty good. Our favorite, Kentucky Tavern BIB, is sadly no longer available, but this one comes from the same distillery and basically tied KT in our Bonded Mash Madness competition.

Old Grand Dad 114 ($22) – This high proof expression of Old Grand Dad seems to fly blissfully under the radar. The high rye content and high proof make it stand out in almost any cocktail. I don’t know why it’s still so cheap, and I don’t know how long it will continue to be available, but for the time being it is a helluva bourbon for a damn good price.

A Straight Rye Whiskey (depends, but readily available with the balance) – Some of my favorites are Bulleit Rye, Rittenhouse Rye BIB, Smooth Ambler Rye, and Sazerac Rye. I know not picking one is a cop-out, but I tend to float between ryes. I don’t have a single favorite in this <$35 price range. My overall favorite is easily the single barrel Smooth Ambler, but that is closer to $50-60. Ryes are much older than bourbons in heritage, and always spark a good conversation. They’re also somewhat polarizing, but that’s half the fun honestly.

So do you Bourbon Crusaders agree? Disagree? Want to rage quixotic against not being able to find some of these in your area? Let us know in the comments! We want to hear what your lists would be and can’t wait to see what some of the other writers chose. Cheers!

First Stop, Barton 1792 Distillery

Our first stop on the Bourbon Classic Media Camp tour was the Barton 1792 Distillery. It, like many present day distilleries, has an interesting history complete with several ownership changes, expansions, and setbacks. Nestled in the heart of Bourbon Country, Bardstown, KY, they currently produce several brands of bourbon including Very Old Barton and Kentucky Tavern (both of which have bonded versions available–UPDATE: KTBIB hasn’t been produced in about 6 years, the distributor stocks are gone, and apparently we have the last remaining bottles on Earth [knowledge gained ~4-15, updated 10-15…]), as well as their flagship 1792 Ridgemont Reserve which is named for the year Kentucky gained statehood.

The Basic Facts:

Parent Company: Sazerac Company, Inc. (New Orleans, LA)
Location: Bardstown, KY
Master Distiller(s): Ken Pierce
Mash Bill(s): Four different mash bills with undisclosed ratios
Aging Rickhouses: On site
Website: http://www.1792bourbon.com/
Public Tours: Yes, daily, and still free as of this writing

Highlights of the Tour and Grounds:

All of the corn comes from within a 100 mile radius of the distillery, and they use 30 acres of corn everyday
The rye and barley grains are sourced from several states, including further north, as the barley grows better there
They operate one coal and two natural gas burners–the coal burner produces more than twice the steam as both of the gas burners combined
They maintain thirteen mash tanks which hold 650,000 gallons of fermenting grains
They operate a single 5 story column still called the “Ridgemont still,” and it’s a monster!
The distillate comes off the still at 140 proof
28 traditional rick houses hold 19,600 barrels each, and the barrels are sourced from Independent Stave Company
A newer pallet style warehouse holds 76,000 barrels, and that is just as enormous as it sounds (see photographs below)
1792 Ridgemont Reserve is a blend of 8-10 year old bourbons and it was first introduced in 2002
Eight bourbons are produced on premises from 4 undisclosed mash bills

During the tour we were fortunate enough to thief directly from a ‘sweetheart’ 1792 barrel (barreled on 2-14-2006). This experience would have been cool enough on its own, but we may or may not have been able to take some pints of it with us on the bus. The tasting offered at the conclusion of the tour had their white dog, Very Old Barton, 1792, chocolate bourbon ball cream liqueur and, wait for it, another version of barrel strength 1792. We’re here to tell you that if the barrel strength never hits the market, it will be a crime against humanity. Take everything we love about regular 1792 and then amplify it into another stratosphere. The higher proof bumps up the barrel flavors but still maintains a great balance. Having talked with Ken Pierce and representatives from the distillery, they all staunchly maintain that they have no plans for a barrel proof release; however, they get this awkwardly frustrated look on their face when asked that screams, “please stop asking, we’ll tell you it’s coming out once the higher-ups say we’re allowed to!” Until then, we’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope.

A Brief History of the Barton 1792 Distillery

Ben F. Mattingly, whose grandfather had been a distiller in Louisville, KY, likely had no idea what he was ostensibly starting when he married Catherine Willett, of the family which owned Willett and Frenke. They operated a distillery at Morton’s Spring in Nelson County, Kentucky, just outside of Bardstown. In 1874, Mattingly and a Thomas S. Moore (who had also married into the Willett family) began working at Morton’s Spring Distillery. Two years later, ownership was transferred to themselves. All of this was occurring at what was the dawn of the Golden Age of Bourbon in the post war United States. Then, in 1881, around the time when their first barrels were coming of age, Mattingly sold the company to some investors and Thomas Moore continued to work there until 1899, when he then bought 116 acres next to Morton’s Spring to build his own distillery. A little over 15 years later, Morton’s Spring went out of business, and in 1916 Moore purchased it and incorporated it into his own distillery. Sadly, the next big event in this story is the passage of the 18th Amendment and the start of Prohibition. The distillery was forced to close as it did not get a license to distill medicinal alcohol.

After repeal, the distillery would reopen with Con Moore (Thomas Moore’s son) in charge. It was later sold to Oscar Getz, a Chicago liquor merchant who would later provide the foundation for the the Getz Museum of Whisky History in 1944. Getz is responsible for picking the name “Barton” at random, and the new Barton Distillery would go on to buy Glenmore Distillery in Owensboro, KY. Following ownership by Constellation Brands (who owned the US rights to Corona sales as well as prominent brandy brands such as Paul Masson), Sazerac eventually purchased Barton in 2009 for $334 million along with the bottling facility in Owensboro. At the time of the sale, Barton Distilling was actually the larger company, and Sazerac more than doubled in size overnight.

Popular Brands currently produced by Barton 1792 Distillery:

1792 Ridgemont Reserve, Very Old Barton, Kentucky Tavern, Tom Moore, Ten High, Colonel Lee, and (likely) Walking Stick Single Barrel.
They also produce a number of other spirits, including varieties of vodka, brandy, and schnapps.

Cheerss, from Chris and Darren!

(Some supplemental information via http://www.ellenjaye.com/barton.htm)