Barton Brands, Ltd. was a company that produced a variety of distilled beverages and liqueurs and is now part of the Sazerac Company, which is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has its principal offices in Louisville, Kentucky. The Barton distillery, currently known as the Barton 1792 distillery, was originally established in 1879, and is located in Bardstown, Kentucky.
Some of Barton's better-known brands and products have included the 1792 Bourbon, Kentucky Tavern, and Very Old Barton bourbons; Fleischmann's, Skol and Wave Vodkas; the 99 line of schnapps (99 Apples, 99 Bananas, etc.); Calypso and Barton rums; Capitan, El Toro and Montezuma tequilas and Mr. Boston and Fleischmann's gins.
In 1993, Barton was acquired by Canandaigua Wine Company, later Constellation Brands.[1] In 2009, Constellation sold Barton to the Sazerac Company.[2]
Bourbons
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Blended American whiskey
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Canadian whisky
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Scotch whisky
Whisky liqueur |
Gin
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Mezcal
Rum
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Schnapps
Tequila and triple sec
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Vodka
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The distillery currently known as the Barton 1792 distillery was originally established in 1879.[7] As of June 2018, it comprises 51 buildings – most of which are rickhouses for barrel aging.[7]
In June and July 2018 one of the 29 rickhouses at the Barton 1792 Distillery collapsed in two stages. The rickhouse had a storage capacity of about 20,000 barrels,[8] and contained about 18,000 when the first collapse occurred,[7] with each barrel having a capacity of 53 US gallons (200 L).[8] On June 22, 2018, about half of the building collapsed and caused about 9,000 barrels of spirits being aged there to fall with the structure, although about two-thirds of the barrels remained intact.[8][7][9][10] The facility had a 12-foot (3.7 m) deep basement to help contain spills, but some bourbon and brandy leaked into the nearby Withrow Creek and Beech Fork River, and about 800–1000 fish were killed.[8][7][9] The building had been constructed in the 1940s,[7] and one of the walls had been in the process of being repaired when the collapse occurred.[8] Sazerac was given a notice of state law violation for the spill and for failure to properly notify the authorities.[10] About two weeks later, on July 4, 2018, the remainder of the building collapsed. No one was injured in either collapse.[11]
