We are a Kentucky based Bourbon Distillery that is crafting some of the best bourbon you’ll ever find!
Bargo 459 got started in 2017 by Matthew Bargo, a retired Vice President of Research and Development who felt like he still has something to give. Matt is no stranger to the disciplined approach to problem solving having developed and won awards for many products and processes during his professional career, many of which were granted patents.
Because professionally Matt had utilized a problem solving method that he developed through years of experience using many different established problem-solving practices in numerous disciplines, he carried that over to his bourbon making. His initial step was to identify targets and goals. The target for his bourbon was a repeatable quality every time, and the measurements were taste, aroma, color, and mouth feel.
In order to accomplish this, he researched thousands of articles written about the process of making bourbon, beginning with the earliest records and continuing until present.
He visited brewers on the bourbon trail. Matthew, also, interviewed older individuals involved in moonshining during probation and after, to gather historical information and information about their personal experiences.
He found that their methods, even though they were crude and created by trial and error, were often right on the money. Further, their methods, the art of moonshining, are still in use today.
Matt established a protocol for researching and designing trials to validate what appears to be happening at different points in the process. It was apparent quality is the result of all steps and their interaction up to the point of bottling. The impact is more pronounced and visible, but understanding the entire process is the difference between an average bourbon or an exceptional.
Making bourbon is hard work. Making good bourbon is really hard work. It is not an accident. It is not the result of a single step. Instead, making an excellent bourbon is the combination of many steps, controlling as many external and internal variables as possible.
The decision to focus on small batch, pot distilled, single barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey has proven to be a wise one. The design was rewarded with Bargo 459 Double Barreled winning awards in the only two contests in which it was entered.
Plans are to continue to improve by using our signature process, to enter more contests and to win more medals and read and understand contest judges’ reviews, and even more important are your reviews and comments.
Bargo 459’s goal is to craft a product of excellence with aroma, color, and rich lingering flavor.
Please enjoy the product, drink responsibly, and don’t be afraid to share it with a friend.
who we are.
Bargo 459 is in Gray, a small community in southeastern Kentucky. The building works well with the process design. There is a receiving area for incoming barrels of bourbon whiskey. Each barrel is numbered, and information logged. The bourbon contained within this barrel will always have this identifying number.
Samples are taken from each barrel of bourbon and analyzed to proof, color, taste and mouthfeel. This information will follow the bourbon through processing.
Bourbon meeting our initial criteria will be placed in one of three processing rooms. The rooms are environmentally controlled and are limited to two barrels each. The history of the barrel of bourbon within will be updated during their time in process.
As the process continues, the barrel proof is reduced to 50% by the addition of Kentucky spring water, which is expensive but well worth the outcome.
Information is recorded as the process continues. Whenever it is determined that the barrel of bourbon has reached the level required to meet the tasting, aroma, color and mouth feel of a fine Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, it is removed from the process room. That barrel can, then, follow 3 different paths.
It can be placed in a rick house to continue to age. It can be bottled, yielding a single barrel, small batch, pot distilled, non-chilled filtered, bottled at cask strength Bourbon. This product will be labeled identifying the barrel and the bottle number.
Third option for the bourbon is to be placed into a finish barrel. One that previous aged a fine port, sherry or rum. The bourbon is transferred into the finish and will continue to age in the assigned process room.
The process flows from receiving, laboratory, process room, bottling, labeling, finished good storage and shipping is in place. Process effort is intense. It closely controls procedures.
The effort required to analyze every barrel and bottle is part of our commitment to excellence. Bargo 459 Bourbons are Kentucky Proud, distilled in Kentucky, aged in Kentucky, processed and bottled in Kentucky.