MILLVILLE — After a more than four years of extensive renovations and reinvention, Castle & Key Distillery in Millville, Kentucky, is officially open to the public for tours and private events.
While the brand itself is new, the 113-acre property and its oldest features—including a European-inspired castle, sunken gardens and a key-shaped aquifer and peristyle springhouse—date to 1887, when legendary distiller Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. built what is considered to be the country's first destination distillery.
National Distillers later set up operations and distilled on the property until 1972, and bourbon was still aged and bottled there until 1987, when National Distillers merged with what is now known as Jim Beam. The property had fallen into a state of disrepair and ruin by the time Castle & Key co-founders Will Arvin and Wes Murry purchased it in 2014 and began restoring the grounds and its buildings.
In those early stages, Kentucky landscape designer Jon Carloftis describes fighting through a tangle of undergrowth and stumbling down into what, at one time, had been an ornate sunken garden. The gardens have since been beautifully reimagined by Carloftis into a centerpiece of the property, ready to host events, tastings and other functions.
“It went from a post-apocalyptic war zone to a place Colonel Taylor would be proud of.” — Master Distiller Marianne Eaves
Likewise, Lexington-based interior designer Donna Winfield recalls scrambling across piles of rubble with Arvin and Murry to asses the property’s 24 buildings. Despite being in such poor shape, she was struck by the integrity of the venue's bones, she said, and strived to incorporate as many of the original elements as possible—including an old boiler room that’s been repurposed into a handsome, modern guest center and retail shop—into her final designs. “We actually found the neglect and abandonment to be beautiful,” she said. Materials such as stone, steel, reclaimed wood, copper and brass accentuate the industrial-chic aesthetic.
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Castle & Key's welcome center and gift shop are located in a repurposed boiler room. Elements such as large, wrought-iron chandeliers, built by Maynard Studios in Lawrenceburg, were chosen to enhance the existing elements.
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Old train tracks — remnants of a rail line built by Col. Taylor to bring visitors from Frankfort to his distillery — were uncovered and preserved in front of the limestone castle.
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Castle & Key includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that can be customized for private parties and events.
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A peristyle springhouse covers the keyhole-shaped aquifer from which Castle & Key draws its water. In Col. Taylor's estimation, limestone-filtered water was the "key" to making excellent Kentucky bourbon.
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Part of historic Warehouse A was preserved (background), and a botanical garden planted among its foundation.
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Master distiller Marianne Eaves found that much of the old distillation equipment and fermentation vats left by National Distillers was still in perfect shape for her needs. Castle & Key also recently installed a new column still, made by Vendome Copper and Brass Works in Louisville, to complement one already in place.
“This is a huge moment for us,” Eaves said in advance of Castle & Key’s grand opening on September 19. “It went from a post-apocalyptic war zone to a place Colonel Taylor would be proud of.”
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Marianne Eaves became Kentucky bourbon's first female master distiller since Prohibition when she joined Castle & Key in 2016.
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Some of the existing equipment, such as this 1936-era scale hopper, were refurbished for use in Castle & Key's operations.
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One of Castle & Key's fermentation vats.
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The distillery recently installed a second column still to complement one already in place.
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An existing warehouse onsite — the world's longest — is nearly as long as two football fields. Nicknamed "maneater" for having only one entrance and one elevator shaft, the warehouse can hold 36,000 barrels.
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Founding partner Wes Murry pours a sample of Castle & Key's 106-proof Restoration Release gin during a recent tasting.
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Eaves and her team have been busy for some time now. Castle & Key’s first releases, a gin and a vodka made primarily with Kentucky-grown ingredients and dubbed “Restoration Releases,” are currently available for purchase on site and at select locations throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. The brand’s main lines of gin and vodka, as well as Castle & Key Rye, are slated for release in 2019.
Shortly after Eaves joined Castle & Key in 2016—becoming Kentucky bourbon's first female master distiller since Prohibition in the process—she, Arvin and Murry cracked open a bottle of 1970 Old Taylor that had been produced on the site. They liked what they tasted, and had a sample tested to reverse-engineer the recipe. They found that the bourbon was made with white corn instead of the more common yellow corn, and also contained a higher percentage of barley. Castle & Key has partnered with Walnut Grove Farms, based in Bloomfield, Kentucky, as the primary provider of its grains, including an heirloom variety called Hickory King White Corn that's grown exclusively for the distillery. Eaves also modeled the distillery's two yeast strains off of the sample.
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Castle & Key’s first releases, a gin and a vodka dubbed “Restoration Releases,” are currently available for purchase. The brand’s main lines of gin and vodka, as well as Castle & Key Rye, are expected to be released in 2019, with Bottled-in-Bond bourbons to follow in at least 2021.
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Walnut Grove Farms, the primary provider of Castle & Key's grains, grows an heirloom variety called Hickory King White Corn exclusively for the distillery.
Castle & Key’s bourbons, the first of which won't be released until at least 2021, will be Bottled-in-Bond releases. Bottled-in-Bond is a government-sanctioned designation first championed by Col. Taylor that stipulates bourbon made by one distiller during one distillation season, aged for at least four years and bottled at 100 proof.
Castle & Key is also honoring Col. Taylor in once again establishing Castle & Key as a tourist attraction and hospitality destination. A quarter-mile long botanical trail, featuring ingredients used in Castle & Key’s Restoration Release Gin, is open to the public for free, self-guided tours.
Castle & Key also offers guided, small-group tours, available by reservation, that take an in-depth look at the property and its operations. The property is also well equipped to host private events in a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces, and a café and small inn are planned as part of future offerings.
Said Eaves: “We’re really proud of the spirits and the approach we’ve taken to reimagine the visitor experience."
Visit castleandkey.com for information and reservations.
Additional reporting by Saraya Brewer and Judy Brumley