In the winter of 1881, Albert Bacon Blanton was born into one of the first families in bourbon history. At the age of sixteen, he began working in the distillery as an office boy and soon became a leading pioneer in the development of bourbon. From the time he was appointed company president in 1921 until his retirement in 1952, his distillery grew from 44 to 144 buildings to become the largest distillery of its time. During this period, Colonel Blanton created his very special and limited supply of bourbon - his private reserve - handpicked and stored in what is now known as the famous H warehouse. Although Colonel Blanton passed away in the spring of 1959, his legacy lives on. Introduced in 1984, Blanton's namesake bourbon was the very first commercially available Single Barrel Bourbon. Single Barrel Bourbon is the first of its kind.