401: Your Next Stop On The Bourbon Trail A Sit Down With Whitney Rye Of The Parlor Room

Bourbon Lens traveled to The Parlor Room in Bardstown, Kentucky, for a wide-ranging conversation with founder Whitney Rye — known to many as Bourbon Duchess — that traced the history of Barton Distillery through a vertical tasting culminating in a first taste of the newly released 1792 Straight Rye.

The Parlor Room, which Rye opened on June 6, 2025, offers guests a guided tasting experience built around storytelling rather than formal tasting notes. “I don’t do tasting notes at the Parlor Room,” Rye said. “I tell you the story, and that’s something that I can sometimes get slack for, but I think whenever you’re tasting a bourbon for the first time… it becomes very unapproachable for beginners.”

The conversation traced Barton Distillery’s history back to 1889, including a 1940s fire, a rebuild under new ownership, and a name — Barton — that Rye says was reportedly drawn out of a hat. “It’s pretty effing cool in my opinion,” she said of the distillery still carrying that name in 2026.

The tasting flight included a 1986 Very Old Barton, a vintage Tom Moore, and Ridgemont Reserve 1792, before moving to the new release: 1792 Straight Rye, bottled at 100 proof. Reaction on the podcast was immediate. “You all has a ton of flavor. I mean, there’s no other way to put it,” Rye said. Host Jake Lewellen compared the pour to a favorite treat: “Ginger snap cookies. Like on the palate, it’s perfect.”

Rye noted that 1792’s rye whiskey is also the backbone of several well-known Buffalo Trace rye releases produced at the same Bardstown facility. “If you really love E.H. Taylor straight rye and you’re not drinking Very Fine Barton or 1792, what are you doing?” she said.

The episode also touched on the broader state of the bourbon industry, with Rye and the Bourbon Lens hosts discussing the current oversupply and predicting a shift toward more age-stated releases in the years ahead. “I’m really genuinely hoping that they start saying, look at the quality,” Rye said. “Stop looking at the quantity.”

The full episode, including the complete history of the Barton and 1792 brands, is available now on Bourbon Lens across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and bourbonlens.com.

About The Parlor Room

The Parlor Room is a guided bourbon tasting experience located in Bardstown, Kentucky, founded by Whitney Rye (Bourbon Duchess), offering rare, allocated, and vintage pours alongside distillery storytelling.