In the winter of 1881, Albert Bacon Blanton was born into one of the first families of bourbon history. At the age of sixteen, he started work in the Distillery as an office boy and fast became a leading pioneer in the development of bourbon. From the time he was made company president in 1921 until his retirement in 1952, his Distillery expanded from 44 to 144 buildings to become the largest Distillery of its day. During that period Colonel Blanton created his very special and limited supply of bourbon - his private reserve - handpicked and stored in what now is known as the famous Warehouse H. Although Colonel Blanton died in the spring of 1959, his legacy lives. Introduced in 1984, Blanton’s namesake bourbon was the first ever Single Barrel Bourbon sold commercially. The Single Barrel Bourbon is the first of its kind.