Bardstown Bourbon Company Rick House Tour | Behind the Barrels | The Liquor Connoisseur
- connoisseurofliquo
- May 12
- 3 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
Most distillery tours show you the shiny copper stills. Crystal and Roger went to Bardstown Bourbon Company for the real tour — behind the barrels, into the rick house, where the actual aging happens and where the character of bourbon is built over time.
Episode Highlights
Location: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Bardstown, Kentucky
Type: Rick house tour — barrel aging facility
Featured: Multiple expressions at various stages of aging
Key theme: How barrel placement and warehouse conditions affect flavor
Best for: Anyone who wants to understand what 'aging' actually means in bourbon production
What a Rick House Actually Is
A rick house is a multi-story wooden warehouse where bourbon barrels are stacked on racks (ricks) and left to age. They're not climate-controlled — the temperature swings from hot to cold across the seasons, which drives the bourbon in and out of the charred oak and creates the caramel, vanilla, and spice flavors that define the spirit. Bardstown Bourbon Company's rick houses are massive, and Crystal and Roger get an up-close look at what that scale means for the aging process.
How Barrel Placement Changes Everything
Barrels on the upper floors experience more extreme temperature swings — hotter in summer, cooler in winter — which accelerates interaction with the wood and produces bolder, more intense flavors. Lower floor barrels develop more gently, with softer flavors and less char influence. Bardstown's team rotates barrels deliberately to manage these variables, which is part of why their consistent expressions taste so consistent batch to batch.
What Crystal & Roger Took Away
Understanding the physical reality of the rick house fundamentally changes how you interpret what you taste in a glass. When you can connect the liquid to a specific environment — the heat of an upper floor barrel, the slow seasonal cycling — bourbon stops being a mystery and becomes a story you can follow. That's exactly what The Liquor Connoisseur is here to do.
🥃 Crystal & Roger's LC Recommendations
If you want to understand bourbon: A distillery visit — especially to a rick house — is the single most educational thing you can do. Bardstown Bourbon Company offers public tours.
If you can't visit Kentucky: Watch this episode. Crystal and Roger walk through the education so thoroughly that you'll understand aging in bourbon after 30 minutes.
To taste the result: Bardstown Bourbon Company's core lineup is widely available and consistently excellent at its price points. The Fusion series and Origin expressions are great starting points.
LC Verdict
A behind-the-scenes look at where bourbon actually becomes bourbon. The rick house is where the magic happens, and this episode makes that concrete in a way that no tasting note can.
Drink To Remember, Not To Forget. 🥃
🥃 Want to Experience This With an Expert?
Crystal and Roger of The Liquor Connoisseur® bring the same expertise directly to your group — live, in person, guided by the same passion and knowledge from every episode. Corporate tastings from $1,500. In-home tastings from $500. Virtual tastings available nationwide.
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