Castle & Key and the Revival of Old Taylor
Castle & Key revived the buildings and grounds of Old Taylor in Woodford County, Kentucky, but it did not revive the Old Taylor bourbon brand. The project brought spirits production back in 2016 and welcomed the public in September 2018, giving a former bourbon showplace a new working life.[1]
A castle built for visitors
Col. Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. founded Old Taylor in 1887. The Kentucky Governor's office describes him as a bourbon industry financier, innovator and political advocate; the buildings suggest how seriously he took the business of presenting bourbon to an audience. A European-style castle was the centrepiece, surrounded by limestone buildings, sunken gardens, a fish pond and a colonnaded springhouse.[1]
Old Taylor was not Taylor's first distillery project. A trade history traces an earlier purchase to Leestown in Frankfort in 1870, which he renamed Old Fire Copper, or O.F.C. It then describes his departure in 1885 through a deal with Gregory and Stagg, regaining the J. Swigert Taylor Distillery. In 1887, Taylor and his son Jacob renamed the J. Swigert Distillery Old Taylor and began building the castle. This earlier sequence helps distinguish the foundation of Old Taylor from Taylor's previous work in bourbon: the castle belongs to a particular project, not to the beginning of his involvement in distilling.[4]
Castle & Key's own account says Taylor intended a bourbon destination at a time when distilleries were usually closed to the public. It calls the castle Scottish in style and says the springhouse drew inspiration from Roman bathhouses. The springhouse's key shape also carried a message: according to that account, Taylor believed the limestone water beneath it was the “key to great bourbon”.[2]
This was a place designed to make production visible. Visitors could walk around the central still, while a private rail line brought guests into the grounds. The rail extension also helped production, combining a practical connection with an impressive arrival. The architecture and the transport link served the same ambition: to draw people into the workings of the distillery.[1][2]
Story box
- story_title: A showplace rescued
- founding_story: Taylor founded Old Taylor in 1887 as a bourbon destination. Producer's account.
- turning_point: Will Arvin and Wes Murry bought the property in 2014 and began renovating it that year. Record.
- documented_record: Spirits production began in 2016; the public opening followed on 19 September 2018. Record.
- sources: Governor's announcement; producer's history.
- claim_source_mapping: Founding and visitor intent: producer's history. Purchase, production and public opening dates: Governor's announcement.
- last_checked: Not established from the supplied record.
Verdict badge
- claim: Taylor planned Old Taylor as a visitor showcase for bourbon making.
- verdict: Documented
- what_the_record_shows: The Governor's description of the site and the producer's account establish its visitor-facing design.
- evidence_against_or_gap: The producer's stronger phrase, “birthplace of bourbon tourism”, remains its own characterisation.
- earliest_known_source: Not reliably established from the supplied record.
- sources: Governor's announcement; producer's history.
- last_checked: Not established from the supplied record.
From shutdown to salvage
Prohibition and its aftermath interrupted the first life of Old Taylor: it closed in 1920, but that was not its final shutdown. Production resumed after Prohibition, and the distillery closed again in 1972. The Governor's account describes the severe disrepair that followed. These separate closures matter because the revival was not simply the reopening of a site untouched since the 1920s.[1][3][5]
Accounts of the property before the rescue describe kudzu covering the buildings and roofs close to collapse. The site was nearly dismantled for salvage before the 2014 purchase. That gives the restoration a sharper meaning than a change of name: the buildings themselves, not just the prospect of making whiskey inside them, were at risk.[5][7][8]
Restoring a working distillery
Will Arvin and Wes Murry bought the property in 2014 and began renovations that year. Their project had to serve two purposes: preserve the character of the old estate and make room for production again. The restoration installed new stills, converted the original boiler room into a guest centre and rehabilitated the barrel warehouse.[1]
Preservation also worked at a smaller scale. Distiller reports that the gift shop's doors and windows were copied from a 1909 photograph, while many fermenters used between 1935 and 1972 remained viable. Together, those details show the different kinds of evidence a restoration can use: a photograph for a lost appearance, surviving equipment for a physical connection with production.[6]
Landscape designer Jon Carloftis restored the sunken gardens and planted an herb garden in the foundation of a lost warehouse. The gardens therefore belong to the revival rather than merely decorating it: the original distillery had been conceived as somewhere people would explore. Restoring that setting recovered part of Taylor's visitor-facing idea alongside the industrial spaces.[6]
The name Castle & Key itself joins the two most recognisable features of the estate: the castle and the keyhole-shaped springhouse. It identifies the restored place without borrowing the Old Taylor brand.[2][8]
Revival timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1887 | Old Taylor is built.[1] |
| 1920 | The distillery closes because of Prohibition.[3] |
| 1972 | The distillery closes again.[1] |
| 2014 | Arvin and Murry buy the property and begin renovations.[1] |
| 2016 | Spirits production begins.[1] |
| 19 September 2018 | The distillery opens to the public.[1] |
| 2020 | Restoration Rye is released.[3] |
| 2022 | Castle & Key Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon is released.[3][8] |
New spirits, not Old Taylor bourbon
Castle & Key's first release was gin, not bourbon. Restoration Rye, its first aged spirit, followed in 2020; Castle & Key Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon arrived in 2022. That sequence is central to understanding the revival: returning distillation to an old building and releasing an aged whiskey are different milestones.[3][8]
The distinction between site and brand is just as important. The Governor's 2018 announcement says Sazerac bought the Old Taylor and Col. E.H. Taylor brands from Beam Global Spirits & Wine in 2009 and made them at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. Castle & Key occupies the restored Old Taylor grounds, but its own bourbon is not Old Taylor bourbon.[1]
The producer lists bourbon, rye, gin and vodka among its products. For this story, their significance is not that the new enterprise reproduces every aspect of the old one. It is that a site threatened with dismantling once again combines spirits production with the public-facing grounds that helped distinguish Taylor's original project.[2]
What the revival does not prove
One appealing story connects the new bourbon to an old bottle, but the accounts disagree about its discovery. Kentucky Educational Television places a pre-Prohibition Old Taylor bottle in a liquor cabinet at a nearby horse farm. Garden & Gun describes a 1917 Old Taylor bourbon found during renovation.[4][5]
Recipe story verdict
- claim: The new bourbon's recipe was inspired by a surviving Old Taylor bottle.
- verdict: Disputed
- what_the_record_shows: KET and Garden & Gun both describe an old bottle as inspiration, but locate its discovery differently.
- evidence_against_or_gap: A nearby horse farm and the renovation site are different discovery settings; neither account resolves the other.
- earliest_known_source: Publication order is not established in the supplied record.
- sources: KET and Garden & Gun.
- last_checked: Not established from the supplied record.
The disagreement concerns the bottle's discovery, not the documented release sequence. It is possible to describe the rescue of the estate and the arrival of Castle & Key's aged spirits without treating either version as established recipe history. Keeping those strands separate leaves the most substantial part of the revival intact: restored buildings, renewed production and a return to welcoming visitors.
Where to go next
- America's Lost Distilleries: Prohibition and After: how national disruption fits into the wider story of American distillery closures.
- Ghost Distilleries Reborn: Port Ellen, Brora and Rosebank: compare the Kentucky rescue with three Scottish revival stories.
- Hanyu's Closure and Revival: Ichiro Akuto's Saved Casks: follow a different kind of continuity, through saved whisky rather than restored buildings.
Sources
[1] Commonwealth of Kentucky, Office of the Governor. Gov. Bevin: Opening of Castle & Key Distillery Brings New Life to Historic Old Taylor Distillery. 2018.
https://newkentuckyhome.ky.gov/Newsroom/NewsPage/09192018_Castle_Key_Distillery
[2] Castle & Key. Our History. Producer's account, undated in the supplied record.
https://castleandkey.com/pages/our-history
[3] Visit Frankfort. Castle & Key Distillery. Official travel guide, undated in the supplied record.
https://visitfrankfort.com/castle-key-distillery/
[4] Kentucky Educational Television. Kentucky Life: Castle & Key. Programme page, undated in the supplied record.
https://ket.org/program/kentucky-life/castle-key-childrens-charity-la-grange-mona-bismarck/
[5] Garden & Gun. Castle & Key Distillery's Bluegrass Revival. Undated in the supplied record.
https://gardenandgun.com/castle-key-distillerys-bluegrass-revival
[6] Distiller. Castle & Key Distillery: A New Old Kentucky Destination. Undated in the supplied record.
https://distiller.com/articles/castle-and-key
[7] Kentucky Historic Travels. Castle Rejuvenation and Preservation. 2023.
https://kentuckyhistorictravels.com/2023/08/14/castle-rejuvenation-and-preservation/
[8] Marsh McLennan Agency. Distilled With Distinction. Undated in the supplied record.
https://www.marshmma.com/us/mma/limitless/distilled-with-distinction.html
This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing the producer's account from public and editorial sources and retaining its disputed story verdict.
Last checked: November 2026