BSS Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 And I'm not talking a bottle........http://search.lbar.com/mls/details/farm/1012514.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nblair Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 That is pretty damn cool. Who's gonna start the pot? I've got $500 on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 I wouldn't even buy it for $500, let alone $2 mil. I'd buy it for $1 and then go begging for government or foundation money to fix it up and offer tours and host events, etc, hoping I could cover the cost of maintainance. It's a beautiful facility, but it's never going to be profitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camduncan Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 It's a beautiful facility, but it's never going to be profitable.Why not? (having never seen the site, I'm just curious.....:grin:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Just my ill-informed opinion, of course, but it's so big and so old that the cost of maintainence and taxes would be prohibitive. Even if the plan were to re-open it as a large-scale distillery, it would be so expensive to get it back into shape that it would be cheaper to build a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanSheen Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 I'd buy it for $1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasH Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 At least you would get some nice fire wood out of it!Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 What Old Taylor needs is a sugar daddy, someone with a lot of money, a desire to preserve an important piece of Kentucky, American, and liquor industry history, and no need to make money from the enterprise. That's the reality. Consider:The property has been bought and sold multiple times since Beam acquired it from National Distillers in 1987. Each owner has extracted something value. None has put any value back in.The buildings are total ruins, inside and out. Basic maintenance, like roof repair, has not been done.The location isn't very desirable. It's served by a poor road that is unlikely to be improved. Low elevation, high humidity and poor air circulation make it less than ideal for whiskey aging.No intellectual property is attached to the real property. It's the site of the Old Taylor Distillery but the Old Taylor brand name is owned by Buffalo Trace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBOmarc Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 What Old Taylor needs is a sugar daddy, someone with a lot of money, a desire to preserve an important piece of Kentucky, American, and liquor industry history, and no need to make money from the enterprise. That's the reality. Consider:The property has been bought and sold multiple times since Beam acquired it from National Distillers in 1987. Each owner has extracted something value. None has put any value back in.The buildings are total ruins, inside and out. Basic maintenance, like roof repair, has not been done.The location isn't very desirable. It's served by a poor road that is unlikely to be improved. Low elevation, high humidity and poor air circulation make it less than ideal for whiskey aging.No intellectual property is attached to the real property. It's the site of the Old Taylor Distillery but the Old Taylor brand name is owned by Buffalo Trace.I have no reason to doubt Chuck's account of the condition of the Old Taylor property. Can't distill, can't age and can't get to it easily. Why is it up for sale for 1.9 million? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSS Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 The buildings are in sad condition. I would think it would have to be a project like Woodford Reserve. Huge company that's willing to spend a ton of money to revive it for what some would call promotional\marketing reasons. But I don't see that happening.I don't think access to it is that much worse that Woodford Reserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODaniel Posted November 5, 2010 Share Posted November 5, 2010 Heey I've been there. Creepy as hell at night... I'll throw in $5.But seriously I agree with what's been said. It's a cool history and place in general, but like they said, that place is ROUGH. Those pictures make it look halfway decent compared to what it's like, at least last time I saw it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethangsmith Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Michter's is for sale in Schaefferstown too. Though it's in about the same shape as Old Taylor, the majority of the main distilling equipment is intact and is in salvageable shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 I guarantee there is not an ounce of copper at either site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmckenzie Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 I think the column still is still at michters. If you tried to get at it, the building would fall down though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethangsmith Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Yep. Column still, condensers, doubler, and all related piping. But good luck trying to move any of it (hence why it's still there!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinningrecords Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I drove by Old Taylor on the way to Woodford for a tour last week. It's creepy all right. But not even half as creepy as the Old Crow distillery that's adjacent to it. It looks like the Addams family owned a distillery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 The name doesn't help much either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proof and age Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 This property has been on the market for some time, it was magnificent at one time, the spring there is remarkable. Hopefully, the right person or entity will gain custody of this property and properly preserve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bourbon Boiler Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 There's probably not much for Versailles or Woodford County to gain by having it operational again. WR brings in people passing through, and a second distillery won't get people stay overnight with Frankfort so close. An old distillery a half hour west of Clermont or Northeast of Frankfort toward Cincy would have a better shot of their community helping to expand the trail their way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Stopped by there on Saturday and according to the Guy in the Red Truck who is watching over the property, a lawyer in Atlanta has expressed an interest in Old Taylor and will be coming to see it soon. We'll see if anything comes of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 The Guy in the Red Truck always says something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Comp Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Well we do have a lawyer from Atlanta...last I heard he was browsing the Bardstown Kroger whiskey shelves :grin:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmpevans Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Well we do have a lawyer from Atlanta...last I heard he was browsing the Bardstown Kroger whiskey shelves :grin:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrAtomic Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 A question for the bourbon historians among us:Was the Old Taylor distillery designed and built with tourists and visitors in mind? And was the "castle" building used for bourbon production, or was it more of a showpiece? The "castle" building is, even after decades of neglect, still quite terrific and I can only imagine how spectacular it looked in the heyday of the company. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdery Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Remember that Taylor had been involved in probably a dozen distilleries by the time he started on Old Taylor, including the Old Crow place next door, and what is now Buffalo Trace. He wasn't thinking tourists in the sense that we do but customers and dignitaries. He was very big in local (Frankfort) and state politics so it may have been self-serving in that sense too. After the place was built he would have a big, annual Derby party on the grounds and comissioned a private train to get people there. His son had had a very utilitarian distillery on the site, which he demolished and replaced with Old Taylor. There was a graduate student at UK who did extensive research on the place, but then disappeared taking her work with her. (Maybe someone can see if her dissertation is in the UK library. I can supply her name if you need it.) She discovered that it was built later than claimed, during the first years of the 20th century. Part of the logic may have been to make the industry look more respectable, to offset the growing pressure of the Temperance Movement. Anyway, I think he built it to crown his career and leave a legacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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