Barton 1792 Distillery

It feels like we've finally woken up from our winter hibernation of just sticking close to home and doing next to nothing. More and more days feature blue skies and sunshine, and getting out just sounds more appealing than it did a month or two ago.

And so, although Saturday did not have blue skies and warm weather, we were up for the 40 minute drive south to the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown.

This is the sister distillery of Buffalo Trace, our favorite distillery in Frankfort. It is smaller, in terms of production and foot traffic, and has a nice charm about it. You drive through the center roundabout of the small town, two quick turns and it's downhill into the distillery.

As you walk up to the visitors's center, which is tucked between two large production/distribution buildings, the air is saturated with a yeasty smell - it's that fermenting mixture of grains and water called mash. As we waited for our tour to start, it seemed as if the smell changed - sometimes it was bread rising, moments later it was certain that someone close by had brownies in the oven.

When you tell them that you'd like a tour, they give you each a bung which serves as your pass for the complimentary taste testing afterwards. The bung is the soft piece of wood that acts like a stopper in the bourbon barrel. At the beginning of the taste testing, they stamp your bung, and then return it to you as a souvenir.

Like its sister company Buffalo Trace, there is no charge for tours and tastings at Barton.

Rather than having a stockpile on site, grains are delivered daily to this distillery, each truck driving onto this same drop off point where our tour group stood. Corn, rye and barley and poured through the grate below. On the right is the column still which stands several stories high (maybe seven? I can't remember).

Our group walked up to the third floor for a chance to sample their white dog - the distilled strong alcohol that will go into barrels to become bourbon. We opted just for a sniff - it smelled smoother and was less pungent than I expected.

Here's another view of the column still from a couple of floors up.
























We had a peek inside one of the warehouses and then headed back for the taste-testing.

I wish I'd taken pictures in the gift shop to show you what their bourbon bottles look like - it's a clean, classic Gatsby kind of design. If I understood correctly, this distillery has just three basic products - a mixing bourbon, a sipping bourbon and a dessert bourbon mix. All three of these were available to sample at the taste-testing. They do sell their bourbon at a variety of different proofs.

My memory of their bourbon - peppery. Much more so than Blanton's, the benchmark for my elementary bourbon palette. The stand out we agreed was their dessert beverage - Chocolate Bourbon Ball Cream Liqueur. It didn't taste chocolaty at all (our friend who hates chocolate bought a bottle), but is just delicious. Since touring, we learned that it is rather hard to get your hands on a bottle of this. It is sold almost exclusively at the distillery. Someone said that during holidays sometimes you can find it at nearby stores. When I mentioned our outing to a coworker, they regretted not asking me to pick a bottle or two for them.

And so that is Barton's 1792, all bottled up. Knowing of its relation to Buffalo Trace, we've been curious about it for a while now. Although their 1792 bottle is pretty, it's the bourbon ball cream that we wouldn't mind buying some day. By the way, the 1792 in its name does not refer to its founding year, but to the state of Kentucky's birth year.

And here is this week's Cookie conclusion - parking herself on my needlework, a subtle hint to use my hands to pet her and to not keep crocheting. This is a scrap yarn project - to make an apron - but like often happens, it is taking way longer than I imagined.

Getting Out

We have been plugging away here in Louisville these past weeks, being good grown-ups. We filed our taxes and talked about our five year plan. We tried out some new health remedies and got our feet wet in the real estate world by attending an open house. We brainstormed vacation ideas and finally tried out El Nopal, the local Mexican restaurant chain.

Amidst this yo-yo weather that it seems most of the country has been experiencing, we carved out a perfect and relaxing Sunday afternoon.

A buy one get one free special had caught my eye, so we each got a sweet and cool drink from Starbucks. Mine was pretty ridiculous sounding - coconut milk mocha macchiato - and while it was fun to try something new, I think I preferred Isaac's plain one.

We stretched our legs and enjoyed the first sights of spring. Which brings me to a subject on our minds a lot lately - breathing. More specifically, how the air in Louisville makes breathing hard for people like Isaac.

Located in the Ohio River Valley, with the river on its north and west and the baby mountain-filled Knobs Region to its south and east, Louisville is a bowl for collecting poor quality air. Pollution from factories, pollen popping from its fertile earth, it all tends to get trapped here because of the terrain surrounding the city.

Along with the incorrigible influences of horse racing bourbon, we're told by locals again and again that allergies are just a part of life here. Some don't ever open their windows during perfect weather days in spring and fall, because even if the temperature is nice, the air is still carries unwanted guests. After a week or so of just sitting in the parking lot, our cars are covered with fine white dust, evidence of what makes us feel so congested when our air purifier is turned off.

But enough with the doomsday air pollution, we still do our best to enjoy the pretty outdoors here, with a comfortable supply of allergy medicine.

As we walked around with our drinks on Sunday, we found our new favorite hill in the city, appropriately known as the dog hill.

It's just this wonderful wide open space in a park where everyone lets their dogs off of the leashes, and furry fun ensues.

There was a curious french bull dog, a grumpy loud toy poodle, a pair of friendly golden retrievers and my personal favorite - a fluffy white great pyrenees puppy. Australian shepherds, German shepherds, boxers, pit bull mixes, huskies, yorkies, the variety was better than any pet store. We just sat sipping and pointing out different dogs to each other.













Between Louisville's air and our own fluffy allergy aggravator, it feels like a constant battle to keep our air clean. New air filters, allergy medicine, local honey, we even tried apple cider vinegar - a natural remedy too unpleasant for us to keep up with.

If you've got any recommendations for breathing easier, please let me know!

I guess it's time for more adult-ing now, but the weather seems to finally be sunny enough to tempt us to get out and explore again.