The other day, Rosemary and I were invited by Sherrie Moore to come out and visit her at the Castle & Key Distillery. Sherrie has been hired by Will Arvin, the owner of Castle & Key, to be head of distilling. Sherrie wanted me to come out and talk history of the distillery and I am always willing to discuss history.
It was a beautiful spring day and Rosemary and I made the drive to the Frankfort area. We arrived there at 11:00 and were greeted by Sherrie and several employees at the distillery. Will had asked me if I would care if he had some other people join us for our history discussion and I had no objections, as I believe in educating staff in the heritage of the place where they work. We started the day by going into the distillery and tasting their new make whiskey with the Distillery Manager Elliott Schmitz, who is justly proud of his whiskey. The distillate was very fruity and I like a fruit forward whiskey. I could tell this new make will age well.
We then headed outside to sit in the idyllic grounds designed by Jon Carloftis to talk about E.H. Taylor, taste spirits and enjoy a picnic lunch. The beautifully laid out table was set up for tasting whiskey and gin. Will soon joined us for the discussion.
We started tasting their Gins while we waited for some of the whiskey they wanted us to taste to arrive. The bourbon barrel samples had to be collected from Elliott’s office. The Gins were very good and Rosemary particularly liked their seasonal gin. I then got down to business and told the group the story of E.H. Taylor, Jr. In between telling the history, we sampled some of their whiskeys. I was particularly impressed with one of their experimental whiskeys but was disappointed to find out that it was already sold out and could not get a bottle. Their wheat recipe Bourbon was also very good. I have tasted this before, but it was from their first release and I believe it has gotten even better over the years.
We ordered lunch from the food truck on the grounds as I talked. The food was very good. I had a Cuban sandwich and I found it paired well with the wheat recipe Bourbon. We sat there for about an hour and a half while I talked history to a very attentive audience. We then walked back to the gift shop where I picked up a bottle of the wheat recipe Bourbon and we were given several other gifts to take home with us. It was a very enjoyable trip and Rosemary and I want to return more often. It is a wonder to me whenever I go there and see how far Will has taken the distillery since that first time I visited the distillery thirteen years ago.
Photos courtesy of Rachel Beck, Castle & Key