Dreams are great. Who hasn’t spent a late spring afternoon staring out of an elementary school window dreaming of the dragons they will slay or the noble prizes they will win some day. The dreams come easy. Like setting at Keeneland, sipping some Kentucky Bourbon and dreaming of owning your own distillery. Really what brown water lover doesn’t dream of owning their own brand? The Keeneland day dream happened to be in the head of the best kind of dreamer: a Doer. This doer happened to, with the help of a handful of fellow doers, turn his dream into the new Castle & Key Distillery. To take a dream and turn it into a reality takes work. Freaking hard work. Just ask us. Of course, our dream is about 0.00000000001% the size of Castle & Key and it has nearly done us in on many occasions. We have survived and today got a private tour of the grounds and working buildings. To say we were impressed would be a massive understatement. Wow! Get over there. Like now.
The Castle & Key story really starts with the original dreamer and doer, Col. E.H. Taylor, the man who dreamed so big he built a castle on the banks of a random stream in Central Kentucky just knowing it would become THE destination for the well-to-do of his day. Really, it is difficult to research bourbon history and not see his name about a billion times. If you are a big time history buff like us, we definitely recommend reading up on the life and times of Colonel Taylor. (As a point of clarification, he got the title from being a Kentucky Colonel, not from actually leading a brigade into battle. Just like Colonel Sanders. Weird, yes, but just something we do down here.)
Will Arven and Wes Murry have taken Col. Taylor’s dream and brought it (drug it, really) into the modern age. Just like their predecessor, they aim to make Castle & Key a showplace destination for not just the bourbon lovers. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, with landscaping in some areas by Kentucky boy turned plant genius, John Carloftis. Of course, that is just the property. The brilliant Marianne Barnes, the first female Master Distiller in Kentucky, was brought on to create the spirts. We think that is the best decision those boys could’ve made. She is doing some incredible things and we absolutely can not wait until their bourbon makes its debut. The bourbon is currently aging away peacefully in the longest warehouse we have ever seen. For real, y’all need to come see it in person!
There are currently two offerings available from Castle & Key, a London Dry Gin and a Vodka. The gin just tastes like summer to us (maybe because we were there on a warm, sunny winter day). The gin is so bright and citrusy at first taste and then hits you with a delicate creamy spice on the back end. In the tasting room, we had it served with Jack Rudy’s Tonic which was just perfection. The vodka has such a clean, smooth taste. We had it mixed with Gent’s Mule syrup for a super yummy Moscow Mule. Again, we found ourselves dreaming of a summer day, setting by the creek, sipping cocktails. That is one dream we will 100% make a reality.
PS - Castle & Key Gin and Vodka, Jack Rudy's Mixers and Gent’s are all currently available at Sweet Mash. Well of course they are!
Here are some pics to entice you into a visit. For more info, check out their website: https://castleandkey.com
If you are looking for the perfect home base for all your bourbon country exploring, Lawrenceburg - Anderson County is right in the middle of it all. Check out our home town https://visitlawrenceburgky.com. We even have our own app now!
On to the next adventure!