Castle & Key Distillery (Northern region)

Castle & Key Distillery is located in Frankfort, Kentucky, on the grounds of the historic Old Taylor Distillery, which was built in 1887 by Colonel Edmond Haynes Taylor Jr.. After the original distillery closed in 1917 due to Prohibition and was neglected for decades, it was purchased by new owners in 2014 who began restoration. The site reopened as Castle & Key in 2018, and the company now produces bourbon, rye, gin, and vodka, with a focus on restoring Colonel Taylor's vision of a high-quality, experience-driven destination distillery. 

Our friend, Pete Pogue, arranged a private tour of the distillery. Four of us took the tour. Lisa, (Pete’s wife), Laurie (high school friend of my wife), Sandy (my wife) and myself.

It was a beautiful fall day in October and close to Halloween. The distillery had old bourbon barrels carved like Jack-O-Lanterns throughout the grounds.

The grounds were amazingly beautiful. The buildings architecture resemble castles he had seen while traveling in Scotland, Ireland and Germany. He even incorporated a Roman Bath style cover for the spring he used for the distillery. There is also a sunken garden that he made to resemble Windsor gardens that is currently being restored. Many of the buildings and the Roman Bath Cover are still there and have been restored.

Our tour took us through the entire distillery process.

The bourbon was very good. We sampled many of the varieties they produces. We even tasted some of the gins they make.

I ended up buying three bottles of bourbon and two bottles of gin. I am a gin drinker and I really enjoyed the gins they make.