Castle & Key Distillery

Castle & Key occupies the bones of Colonel E.H. Taylor Jr.'s 1887 Old Taylor Distillery on McCracken Pike in Frankfort — the same Taylor who ran Buffalo Trace down the road and who designed Old Taylor as a destination distillery with a stone castle, a sunken garden, and a colonnaded springhouse over a limestone-water source. The property went dark in 1972 and sat abandoned for forty-two years. In 2014, Will Arvin and Wes Murry bought it and put roughly $20 million into restoration over four years. Doors opened to the public in September 2018.

The other name on the founding story: Marianne Eaves, recruited from Brown-Forman to become the first female master distiller in Kentucky since Prohibition. She set the recipes, laid down the first barrels, and was largely the face of the brand to media until she announced her departure in May 2019 "to pursue other endeavors" — leaving Castle & Key with stock she'd distilled but no successor yet announced. The current title-holder is Brett Connors, credited as "Whiskey Wizard" — head blender, product strategy, hospitality. The distinction matters when people ask whose juice they're tasting, and the answer for the early bourbons is: Eaves's grain bill, aged through Connors's blending decisions.

The visit

The standard Distillery Tour and Tasting runs 60-90 minutes, walks the production floor and a warehouse, and ends with a tasting of the current lineup. Pricing through Castle & Key's own booking system sits in the $20-$50 range depending on the experience tier. The grounds themselves — 113 acres of restored landscape including the sunken garden designed in the style of Windsor Castle's, a botanical trail, the springhouse colonnade, and the quarter-mile-long warehouse — are free to walk during operating hours (Wed-Sat 10:30-5, Sun 11-5). Taylorton Station, the on-site bar, takes walk-ups for cocktails and small plates.

Recent TripAdvisor traffic puts Castle & Key at 4.9 stars across 1,083 reviews. A January 2026 reviewer who'd done the full Kentucky and Tennessee circuit called it "the most beautiful by far." A December 2025 visitor on the Trace Tour praised guide Faaris by name as "definitely the best." The complaint pattern is mostly about booking — peak weekends fill weeks out. The praise pattern is consistent: it's the prettiest distillery in the state, and they're still aging into their long-term juice.

Bottles worth knowing

• Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon — the flagship, now 6-year-old per the current label. $50 MSRP. High-barley grain bill that gives it a different mouthfeel than typical Kentucky bourbons.
• Small Batch Wheated Bourbon — second mashbill, released starting 2024, leans softer and more dessert-leaning than the rye-recipe small batch.
• Restoration Rye Whiskey — the contract-distilled rye that paid the bills early. Still in the lineup, lower-proof and approachable.
• Sacred Spring Gin / Vodka — both botanical-driven, both using the springhouse's limestone water. Among the better gins coming out of Kentucky.
• 2026 Experimental Series — two-barrel monthly drops, available only at the distillery. April 2026 release was a Restoration Rye finished in cherry liqueur cask.

Bottom line

Castle & Key is the prettiest stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, full stop. Go for the grounds, take the standard tour, and walk the gardens after. The bourbon is honest, age-stated, and finally hitting its stride as the early-distilled stock crosses six years. The Eaves origin story is real history — first female master distiller in Kentucky post-Prohibition isn't a marketing line, it's a footnote in the trade — and the bottles she helped design are now finally landing on shelves in maturity. Pair it with Buffalo Trace ten miles down the road and you've got the Frankfort half of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail done in a single day.