Wow this was a great distillery to visit. To start with its FREE!!! Does not get any better than free. Once you find the entrance which can be a little tricky, the rest of the day will be great. First you go in and get your ( bung) which is there ticket for the tour which is cool and and you get to keep. They will also date it for you at the end of the tour. Then you take your tour witch is most a outside general tour but very informative. You do go into a Rick/rack house they always smell so go in there. You also go inside and see the distillers box where the pure alcohol pours like water. At the end we got a taste of 3 of there products and a bourbon ball candy. We when here especially to get a couple of bottles of there chocolate bourbon ball cream liqueur. Which is only sold there not in stores. My wife loves this stuff and it is delicious !! Over all one of the better tours to take in my opinion!!! read more

Barton 1792 Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Bardstown, Kentucky

Good place to visit, too bad I was working. Very nice people, I am sure the tours are good read more

One of the most informative tours you will ever get. started the grain dump through tasting. Not the typical tourist trap, gate keeper greets you at the entrance, very friendly folks in the shop. Tour and samples (and chocolate) is complimentary! Don't miss this one. read more

Barton 1792 Distillery - Distilleries Near Me - Bardstown, Kentucky

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Since we were in KY for Thanksgiving weekend, we knew had to bring back bourbon. My niece and her family had visited this distillery recently and recommended it. Our tour guide, Katie, was a delight. She answered all our questions, and even admitted to not knowing the answer to some of the questions. She led us through the tasting at the end of the tour and pointed out the subtle differences in each type of bourbon we tasted. We were with my niece and her seven children, and since they had previously been on the tour, she and the kids mostly hung back. While we were on the tour, one employee (Joe, I think, but I have my suspicions he's really Santa!) gave the kids lollipops and corn from a shipment that had just come in. After that, another employee gave them popsicles while we were tasting bourbon. Last but not least, the women in the gift shop were incredibly helpful and friendly. We left with bags full of souvenirs and bourbon. If you're reading this during the holiday season, be sure to get a couple bottles of the Chocolate Bourbon Ball liqueur. It's so good, one bottle won't be enough! read more

We had a great time on the complimentary bourbon tour today! Full disclosure - we are not bourbon people. We came to Bardstown on a whim and after exploring the downtown decided we'd go to this distillery as it was nearby and a free tour. Scott (I think that was his name!) was an excellent tour guide. Very entertaining and passionate about his job. He was able to answer all of my questions easily and seemed to know each part of the operation intimately. The tour ended with a tasting which included some excellent bourbon chocolate truffles and chocolate bourbon liquor. Very fun tour that we'd highly recommend! Takes about 1 hour and last tour leaves at 3pm! read more

Such a wonderful bourbon tour. Rich K was fabulous as our tour guide very informative and made it easy to understand. This was not listed on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail passport and is a must stop! read more

The best Bourbon distillery tour and it's free. While not technically on the "Bourbon Trail" it's right in Bardstown, has the most informative tour and again it's free. read more

Great distillery tour with Rick...free tour and tasting. We did the Bushel to Barrel tour. Very cool distillery!!

We visited Barton distillery while traveling on our anniversary. We were doing the bourbon trail and found Barton. It seems because of a disagreement, Barton is not a member of the bourbon trail. This means it is a hidden gem. The tour guide was very knowledge and provided a great tour. Of course, the best part of the tour was the bourbon tasting. Old Barton, 1792 and a chocolate liquor that can only be purchased at the distillery. Even if you aren't a bourbon fan, these tours are fun. I recommend them if you are from Kentucky or just traveling through the state. read more

wasn't in our original plans to visit, but glad we did. didn't do the tour, but the gift shop folks were friendly and informative. free tasting was nice and the inexpensive, autographed bottles were a great find for my collection. it's not on the bourbon trail, but don't pass it up, when you're in the area. note to collectors: they still seem to have a good supply of the harder-to-find TRUE six year old (only at 83 proof, though). the hand signed bottles are a great find at $13!! read more

Very rude front desk person. Just stopped in to learn about product...now I don't care. It happens.

Not much on the eyes, this distillery. You spend most of the tour standing outside the manufacturing facilities and being told what's going on. You do go inside for a quick second and it's pretty much just a big production facility. Our guide, however, was lively and very knowledgeable and made the tour enjoyable. The products are okay, but there was nothing I needed to bring back to Michigan with me since I could get Very Old Barton at my hometown cocktail bar. They could also benefit from a tasting room, as the tasting is done in an old conference room. But hey, it's a free tour and if you seek some manufacturing exposure, check it out! read more

This was our first and favorite distillery tour of Kentucky. Our tour guide was wonderful as she guided us through the process of making bourbon including the history behind it. There was no speech just information passed to us as we were her students. We tasted the "white dog" which is before it is put into the barrel. Very cool how the flavor and color change from being in the barrel. A must see and it is not on the Bourbon Tour! Those distilleries were too commercial and touristy for us. We felt like we made friends. Remember the peanut butter as it goes great with it! joanne & mark read more

I was visiting my friend a local to the area and she wanted to take me to a distillery. She had been to that big named whiskey a bunch of times and I had already been spoiled a few weeks prior by Tullamore whiskey in Ireland, so I was looking to try something a little less commercialized and different. We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon touring Barton with Rich K! The outside of the buildings reminded me of being back at Warner Brothers studios and I loved how personal, informative and behind the scenes the tour was. My favorite part was tasting the white dog and deeply breathing in the sweet intoxicating angel share in the warehouse. I just loved the vibe in there, I would go back just to hang out a little longer. The FREE tour yes FREE tour ends with a tasting in the well stocked gift shop. Thanks to Rich K for making my friends birthday extra special and thanks to the rich history and bourbon at Barton! :D read more

Lovely example of a more industrial distillery. There is still great history there and you can't beat the genuine hospitality of everyone you'll meet. Very old Barton is great! read more

I'm not really a bourbon guy (scotch is more of my thing), but this place was cool and the tour was very interesting (about 1 hour and 10 minutes). Unfortunately, they weren't making any bourbon this time of year (this place and the equipment are so old, they only operate from Oct through May-ish). However, they were bottling some Vodka for another customer. The gift shop and tasting area was nice and clean. After your complimentary tasting you take home a souvenir "bung". Yippee! read more

Wonderful tour in the actual distillery. Guide was knowledgeable and gave lots of interesting information. There was no charge for this tour and it was the best we have been on. Tasting was generous and had a variety so something for everyone. Fun gift shop with lots of unique items. read more

If you haven't been on the bourbon trail, you need to go to Bardstown, KY and do that right now. Having never been a huge fan of anything but beer, I tried Barton's bourbon when I was a journalist at the Kentucky Standard (not on the job, mind you) and it made me a fan. Now I miss bourbon here in Florida because it's not the quality I've come to expect from born and bred bourbon. If you visit Kentucky, don't miss this area. It's beautiful and the bourbon is amazing. read more

Tour and tasting is complimentary here. The tour was the most informative of all we did. We truly learned a bunch. The bourbon was ok. The Bourbon Ball Creme liquor was yummy. We grabbed a bottle of that and off we went. Overall, a nice stop. read more

I'm only giving this one three stars, but that's not to say you shouldn't visit this distillery when you're in the area. As with all of the distilleries we visited this one has something unique to offer. We visited in the middle of our tour so we had already heard all about the history of bourbon and how it's made quite a few times by the time we got here, as had the other two people on the tour, having established this our tour guide didn't go over all of this again, which I was grateful for. Instead she concentrated on other areas. In particular the coal fired furnace that powers the distillery which was AWESOME and the bottling line which was interesting. Many of the other distilleries won't show you this less than romantic side to their operations so it's worth a visit. I'd also say that this distillery might be good if you have kids since there's more to the tour than the craft of distilling. This is the most industrial distillery we toured in my opinion with less frills than some of the others. But you still get some good tastings and the Old Barton in particular was surprisingly good (I'm a convert on that front, which my bank manager will be pleased about since it's very reasonably priced), you get to take a Barton barrel bung home with you, which is great (I'll be converting mine into a fridge magnet). Finally, during the tour we actually chatted to quite a few of the non-tour related staff, everyone was great and really happy to answer your questions and chat about the part of the process they're involved in. My favorite stop was the coal furnace. read more

I have been on several bourbon and whiskey distillery tours, and I must say that my trip to Barton's was one of my top two of all time. We had Janie for a guide and she was amazingly descriptive and made the tour fun. A shipment of rye was coming in while we were on the tour, and Janie grabbed some for us. And once the tour was over, she gave us bourbon samples and she gave a lot of detailed information about many things for sale in the gift shop. I normally don't buy anything on distillery tours, but I bought over $100 in tasty bourbon and other items. The tour was not crowded, and we appreciated that. I bet if we would have gone down the street to Jim Beam or Maker's Mark it would have been very packed. All in all, it was an excellent experience. read more

First tour myself and wife have done and it was awesome for a Bourbon fan!! Rick K. Was a great tour guide and the tour was very educational. Thank goodness the White Dog didn't bite to hard!!!! read more

Off the Bourbon Trail tour, but interesting. Mass producer with small visitor center/store. Staff was nice and very knowledgeable. Wish we could have seen more of the facility from the inside, but the rickhouse was best part. If you are looking for the barrel chat for your barbecue - they had the best deal - $10 for good size bag. read more

We took the free estate tour with Stella. She was a terrific guide. It is a very small group tour (5 people max)and lasts 2 hours. We saw everything that goes into bourbon production from start to finish. We were able to see and smell a lot! I totally recommend this tour even if you have been on a lot of bourbon tours. The bottling line is very modern and impressive. They distill only bourbon but bottle other spirits that are delivered by tanker. The barrel filling process was interesting and we were invited to hammer a bung into a just filled barrel. The samples were good and we bought bottles of the bourbon cream which is delicious. read more

1792 is one of our favorite bourbons so a tour was a must do on our visit to bourbon country. We decided to book reservations for the (free!) Bushel to Bottle tour. This was the best decision we made! It was the first tour we did and it really set the tone for our entire trip. If you're able to make this your first tour, I highly recommend that as it gave us a complete overview of the distilling process from start to finish in very good detail. There were several other tours we took where I would have been completely lost if we hadn't already done this comprehensive tour. Many of the distillery tours are very commercial and clearly set up for the public to move through efficiently. They can be sort of "sterilized" and you can tell the areas you see are not actually their production facilities but more small scale for tours to view. Not so at Barton 1792! We were very much taken through the heart of the facility and saw the working machinery and production. Several times we had to move aside for forklifts loaded with boxes to pass through. We saw the bottling line in action, stood next to and touched a running column still, and tasted both the fermenting beer and the white dog coming off the still. Our guide was very knowledgeable and you could clearly see that he loves the company and his job. The tasting at the end included two bourbon varieties, a sample of their chocolate bourbon cream, and also a chocolate. The gift shop is small but nice and reasonably priced compared to others. We left with two rocks glasses and a bottle of the bourbon cream in addition to the two complimentary Barton bungs stamped with the date code of the day we visited. Overall, I think this was the best tour of our trip and the one I'd recommend to everyone making a visit to the area. read more

Excellent place to stop if you want a tour or just to taste. It is free and super fun. Everyone is pleasant and in very helpful. Even the guard where you have to stop before entering the plant. Definitely worth a stop, something for everyone!!! read more

My first distillery tour and was very pleased. Very interesting to see the whole production process. Only three of us on the tour so didn't get lost in any crowd. Tour guide was wonderful southern bell who knew her business. Tour was free and gift shop was not pricey. Don't pass up this visit, would do it again. read more

Took several out of town folks from my work there during a group meeting. This distillery is not on the bourbon trail, but that means the tours and tastings are free! The tour took a little over an hour. Our guide, Jericha, was knowledgeable and funny and everyone was entertained. Highly recommended if you're in the area. read more

Went for a tasting with a tour group... hostess was very nice - facility was just meh. In fairness, I'd already visited Maker's Mark and Buffalo Trace... Barton was a very distant 3rd place compared to the others. read more

This is a big part of American culinary history. Bourbon was deemed by Congress an American product. This distillery is a snapshot from a differnt time and I think their $13 bottle of Very Old Barton embodies Kentucky bourbon. The staff are all very nice and will answer any question asked. Just a tip, you really need to try their bourbon truffles. You can't buy them elsewhere. read more

This is a real tour of a real distillery. We visited 3 yesterday and this one was the most authentic. Loved it!

Excellent tour. You see the nuts and bolts of a distillery without all of the frills and slick presentations. Our tour guide new the business in detail (and knew every employee). He even knew the placarding requirements for the trailers hauling the product. I've never seen a tour guide in any such tour who knew the DOT hazmat regulations. If you're in the area stop by and take the tour. It's well worth your time read more

This was our 5th distillery stop on our trip and probably one of the best tours we had. The tour and tasting are free and start on the hour. Our tour guide was very informative and gave a great tour. The tasting included either 2 bourbons or a bourbon and their special chocolate bourbon liquor. They also had amazing bourbon balls to try. The gift shop was very nice. Overall a great visit and not one to skip. read more