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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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The 113-acre property housing Castle & Key has been referred to as “the birthplace of bourbon tourism.” When it was built in the late 1880s, it was the only distillery of its kind in the country, focusing heavily on the visitor experience as well as on producing quality spirits. The team at Castle & Key strives to do the same. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
When it officially opened its doors to the public on Sept. 19, Castle & Key Distillery became one of Central Kentucky’s newest operating distilleries – but the brand is deeply steeped in the traditions, history and spirits that have permeated its historic Millville, Kentucky, facility for nearly 150 years.
Located at the site of the former Old Taylor Distillery, which was founded by bourbon pioneer Col. Edmund Haynes Taylor in 1887, the 113-acre property that houses Castle & Key is often cited as the birthplace of bourbon tourism. At the time it was built, Taylor’s flagship distillery is said to have been the only one of its kind in the country: a full-blown bourbon destination that, in addition to creating quality spirits, also incorporated a heavy focus on branding, merchandising and entertaining guests as part of its model.
A European-style castle and sunken gardens modeled after those at Windsor Castle are among the many original property features that have been painstakingly restored by the Castle & Key team. Other striking historic features include a barrel warehouse that is believed to be the longest of its type in the world, and a keyhole-shaped aquifer surrounded by a peristyle springhouse.
“We’ve always found that E.H. Taylor said the key to making good bourbon is the water,” said Castle & Key event coordinator Alaina Lantz on a recent tour of the grounds. “He built this springhouse in the shape of a keyhole just to symbolize how important that was to him.”
Taylor’s distillery shut its doors during Prohibition, and later, National Distillers set up operations and distilled on the property until 1972 (the company was eventually acquired by 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. The partners immediately began an extensive restoration of the property with the goal of creating an immersive distillery experience that would honor Taylor’s penchant for hospitality.
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.
Likewise, Lexington-based interior designer Donna Winfield recalls scrambling across piles of rubble with Arvin and Murry to assess the property’s 24 buildings. Despite being in such poor shape, she was struck by the integrity of the venue’s bones.
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Castle & Key includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that can be used for events, including the striking event center, guest center, and gift shop. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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Castle & Key includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that can be used for events, including the striking event center, guest center, and gift shop. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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Castle & Key includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that can be used for events, including the striking event center, guest center, and gift shop. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
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Castle & Key includes a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that can be used for events, including the striking event center, guest center, and gift shop. Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson via Castle and Key
“We actually found the neglect and abandonment to be beautiful,” said Winfield, who 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.
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. Eaves and her team have been busy for some time now, with “restoration releases” of Castle & Key gin and vodka currently available for purchase. The brand’s main lines of rye, gin and vodka are set to be released in 2019.
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 Taylor that stipulates bourbon made by one distiller during one distillation season, aged for at least four years and bottled at 100 proof.
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Marianne Eaves became Kentucky bourbon’s first master distiller when she joined the Castle & Key team in 2014. “Restoration releases” of the brand’s vodka and gin are available now, with its first round of bourbon slated for 2021 release. Photo by Theresa Stanley
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Marianne Eaves became Kentucky bourbon’s first master distiller when she joined the Castle & Key team in 2014. “Restoration releases” of the brand’s vodka and gin are available now, with its first round of bourbon slated for 2021 release. Photo by Theresa Stanley
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 modeled the distillery’s two yeast stains off of the sample.
Castle & Key is also honoring 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.
The distillery is currently offering 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.
“This is a huge moment for us,” Eaves said, in advance of Castle & Key’s grand opening. “We’re really proud of the spirits and the approach we’ve taken to reimagine the visitor experience.”
“It went from a post-apocalyptic war zone to a place Col. Taylor would be proud of,” she added.
Visit www.castleandkey.com for information and reservations.
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Located in the site’s former boiler room, Castle and Key's welcome center was reimagined under the eye of Lexington designer Donna Winfield. Photo by Theresa Stanley
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Located in the site’s former boiler room, Castle and Key's welcome center was reimagined under the eye of Lexington designer Donna Winfield. Photo by Theresa Stanley
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Located in the site’s former boiler room, Castle and Key's welcome center was reimagined under the eye of Lexington designer Donna Winfield. Photo by Theresa Stanley
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Visitors to the distillery might also see Rick the cat, who here, donned his best attire for a media event at the site in September. Photo by Theresa Stanley