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"Picturesque" is not a word
that immediately comes to mind when describing the Barton distillery. It's all business. |
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The main column still
is four stories tall. What you see here is just the very bottom. The still is entirely made of copper, although most of it is clad in this corrugated sheet metal and insulation. It looks like a NASA space launch rocket. |
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This photo shows one of
the 26 perforated plates. There is one for each of the clamped portholes. The fermented mash is poured in near the top, and flows slowly down the still, dripping from one plate to the plate below it. Meanwhile, steam enters the still from the bottom and rises through the holes in the plates, carrying the vaporized alcohol upward with it. |
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At the very top, there
is no insulation. The alcohol vapor leaves the column through a pipe and is sent to the condenser, a long coil of cooled pipe that allows the alcohol vapor to return to a liquid state. |
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In addition to the
whiskey still, Barton operates a pair of alcohol stripping stills for producing ultra high-proof neutral spirits. These are used as the base for vodka, gin, and other liquors, including blended whiskies, but they cannot be used to make straight whiskey. |
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This tank is the oldest
equipment in the distillery. It has been here since it first opened in 1937 and is still used in production. |
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"Oh, d' leg bone's connected to
d' knee bone; And d' knee bone's connected to d' thigh bone; And d' thigh bone's connected to d' neck bone; And the neck bone's connected... " |
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Of course all the
bourbon and other spirits they distill must be bottled, but bottling spirits is a major activity here, whether they're made by one of the Barton companies elsewhere (such as Paul Masson, seen being bottled here) or for spirits made by or for other companies and bottled here on contract |
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