1792 Ridgemont Reserve

1792 Ridgemont Reserve is a Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey produced by the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. The brand and distillery are owned by the Sazerac Company. It is part of a line of small-batch bourbons aimed at the high-end liquor market.

When originally introduced, the bourbon carried a "Small Batch Aged 8 years" statement on the back label and "8-year-old" in the text printed on the back of the bottle. In December 2013, the age statement was dropped from the label and replaced with the wording "small batch bourbon whiskey" and the term "8-year-old" was removed from the text. It is 93.7 proof (46.85% content of alcohol). The name of the bourbon is a reference to the year Kentucky became a state. 1792 is the Official Toasting Bourbon of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. This bourbon is positioned as a super-premium one, and the pricing policy makes it a competitor to Knob Creek or Woodford Reserve. This reflects the general trend in bourbon production, resulting from competition with single malt whisky, which makes small batch bourbons a big business.

1792 Ridgemont Reserve was originally introduced into the market by Barton as "Ridgewood Reserve 1792". The Brown-Forman Corporation sued Barton for trademark infringement, arguing that the similar name and bottle design of Ridgewood Reserve could potentially create consumer confusion with Brown-Foreman's older Woodford Reserve brand. A federal judge ruled in favor of Brown-Forman in 2004, and Barton changed the name of the product to comply with the ruling. Older bottles bearing the Ridgewood Reserve brand sometimes sell for a premium among collectors.