Castle & Key Bourbon
Kentucky sweet mash bourbon, rebuilt from a ruin.
The story behind Castle & Key
Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr. built this distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1887 as Old Taylor. It sat abandoned for decades until Will Arvin and Wesley Murry bought the property and opened Castle & Key in 2014. The name comes from the spring pool on site, shaped like a keyhole, fed by a 19th-century limestone-filtered aquifer. That water makes the whiskey.
Everything is grain to glass. Castle & Key runs a sweet mash rather than sour mash, column distills to 125 proof, finishes in a 375-gallon Vendome copper doubler at 135 proof, and barrels at 107. The flagship mash bill is 73% white corn, 17% malted barley, 10% rye. The wheated swaps rye for wheat. Barrels rest in historic brick warehouses, including 534-foot Warehouse B.
Explore the Castle & Key range
Two ongoing small batch expressions carry the Castle & Key bourbon name, one rye-based, one wheated, both bottled near 100 proof and both built on that sweet mash white corn base.
| Expression | Type | Proof / ABV | Tasting notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon | Rye bourbon, 6 years | 101 | Butterscotch, baking spice, white corn sweetness, oak |
| Small Batch Wheated Bourbon | Wheated bourbon, 5 to 7 years | 100 | Soft wheat, caramel, toasted grain, gentle finish |
| Small Batch Bourbon (prior 4 year) | Rye bourbon, 4 years | 98 | Younger corn sweetness, light rye spice, honey |
| Castle & Key Vodka | Vodka, same limestone water | 80 | Clean, mineral, soft grain, keyhole spring water |
| Small Batch Bourbon (cask strength pours) | Barrel proof releases | Varies by batch | Concentrated oak, praline, higher heat |
Which Castle & Key is right for you?
Pricing here tracks the Kentucky distillery, not the secondary market. The Small Batch Wheated runs $59.99 for 750mL, and the flagship Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon sits at $55.99 when we have it, though that bottle sells out and we restock as allocation allows. Castle & Key Vodka is $29.99. In July 2025 the distillery moved its flagship from a 4-year, 98-proof profile to a 6-year, 101-proof whiskey and cut the suggested retail to $39.99, so what reaches the shelf is a better aged bourbon than the price implies.
Wheat replaces rye, so it drinks round and soft without losing proof.
Rye in the mash bill, six years in oak, built for neat pours and old fashioneds.
Same limestone water, clean mixer, easy price for a full house.