Castle & Key Restoration Rye Single Barrel 1685 Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

The anomaly, the unique, the great.

Let’s take a walk through the history of American Bourbon, shall we? In 1887, Colonel E.H. Taylor opened a distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, one that resembled medieval European Castles. The beauty and elegance of the building were a signal of the kind of Whiskies Old Taylor would make. Always putting quality over quantity, Old Taylor was the main man responsible for the “Bottled-in-bond Act” in 1897, ensuring the distilleries had to meet certain Spirit requirements. The palace of the King of Bourbon was uninhabited from 1972 to 2014, when two local lads, Wes Murrey and Will Arvin, took it for its own. To honor the great building the distillery occupied, they named it Castle & Key and took an oath to always prioritize the quality of their Spirits over anything else.

The first Whiskey Castle & Key ever released is Restoration Rye Single Barrel, its name honoring the legacy of the place of its origin. Made from a mashbill of 17 % yellow corn, 63 % Kentucky rye, and 20 % Kentucky malted barley, distilled in a Vendome copper column still and 375-gallon doubler, and matured on-site in barrels sourced from Kentucky that are first toasted and then charred. A batch of this Single Barrel goodie never exceeds 80 barrels. Pledging themselves to quality, Castle & Key is not trying to enforce a specific flavor profile, but is rather highlighting the anomaly, the unique and interesting in each barrel.