Castle & Key Restoration Kentucky Rye

In 1887, Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. built a new kind of distillery destination in Millville, Kentucky. Inspired by European architecture, the site featured a real castle, a classical Springhouse, and a Sunken Garden. What he built became the birthplace of bourbon hospitality and tourism. Prohibition forced the closing of the distillery in 1920. Over the next century, the property changed owners and occupants several times, eventually falling into ruin.

In 2014, the Castle & Key team purchased the Old Taylor Distillery, in ruins. They got to work, building a consortium of like-minded people, often from outside the industry, who shared their vision. Their team restored the distillery and pondered a name that would fit with both the distillery’s history and modern ideals. After much debate and exploration, Castle & Key was a perfect fit as it highlighted both the historic distillery in the Castle and the importance of their water source, the keyhole-shaped Springhouse.