Ben and I feel fortunate to live so close to so many great distilleries. This past weekend, we celebrated a friend’s birthday by visiting a few of our favorites, including Castle & Key Distillery.
Experiences
Castle & Key calls their tours “experiences.” The experiences are a little pricey, especially compared to somewhere like Buffalo Trace where the tours are free, but you actually get real cocktails at the end!
Several months ago, we did the 1.5 hour “Castle & Key Experience” with Ben’s uncle Gary and really enjoyed the tour of the grounds and the extensive history and chemistry lessons. Castle & Key was built from the ruins of the old E.H. Taylor distillery. After literally being sold for salvage, it was rescued and is being restored by the founders. Their first bourbon is still aging, but their gin and vodka are quite good, and we enjoyed a drink make from each at the end of the experience – a Bee’s Knees with gin, fresh lemon and honey and their take on a Mule with vodka, a locally made ginger syrup and club soda.
This weekend our group of 12 did the Taylorton Experience, a “curated cocktail experience” which at 45-minutes is much shorter and necessarily less in-depth. We did, however, conclude the tour with cocktails. We sat at the bar in Taylorton Station where we explored the botanicals that go into making the Castle & Key Restoration Release and 2019 Autumn gins. We then could choose a cocktail made from each gin. Although I enjoy a French 75 or a G&T on hot summer day, gin is not ordinarily my jam. But both of the drinks I chose – the Rosemary and the White Sage – were yummy. Ben had the Ginger Root, which was tasty (although the nose was decidedly apple cider), and the Angelica Root, which neither of us cared for. Still, it was fun to try these hand-crafted cocktails we never otherwise would have tasted.
Visiting
You don’t have to pay for an experience to visit Castle & Key. The setting itself, right on Glenn’s Creek in the Millville community of Frankfort, is delightful. I love the fact that superstar garden designer John Carloftis designed the grounds and am looking forward to exploring the Botanical Trail in warmer weather. Don’t miss the guest check-in and gift shop, which are housed in the old boiler room, an absolutely gorgeous space packed with high quality things one might actually want to wear or use. And you can still get a cocktail at Counter 17, the walk-up bar at Taylorton Station in the spring, summer and fall (reopening March 9, 2020).
Where Is It?
4445 McCracken Pike (3.3 miles from Woodford Reserve), Frankfort, KY 40601
