Taylor Postcards

[cowdery]

When I made "Made and Bottled in Kentucky" in 1991-92, I had access to a lot a facilities not open to the public. At that time, Beam's acquisition of National Distillers was only a few years old and Beam was using the rackhouses at Old Taylor and Old Crow (which are adjacent to each other, near Frankfort on Glenns Creek Road). Recent reports here say that the properties are in pretty bad repair now. At that time, I got to go inside the Old Taylor Museum and Hall of Fame (shown below), which was already in pretty tumbledown shape. It looked like they had simply closed the doors when Taylor ceased operations in the early 70s and just walked away. Everything was still there but falling down and covered in dust.

Anyway, I liberated a couple of postcards from the gift shop, which show the facility in happier days. Here is the caption that went with this one.

THE OLD TAYLOR MUSEUM AND HALL OF FAME. Located at the Old Taylor Distillery at Glenn's Creek, Frankfort, Ky., the Hall of Fame is a permanent and lasting tribute to the pioneer of the liquor industry, Col. E.H. Taylor, Jr. The building (formerly the Taylorton Railroad Station) is a museum of bourbon distilling and contains the honor roll of distinguished Old Taylor salesmen.

[cowdery]

Here is the caption for this one.

OLD TAYLOR SPRING HOUSE. Located at the Old Taylor Distillery at Glenn's Creek Road, Frankfort, Kentucky--this beautiful piece of architecture has attracted visitors from all over the world.

[bourbonmed]

Chuck,

That 'Spring House' restored would make one heck of a gazebo for our festival visit.

Omar

[Barrel_Proof]

That 'Spring House' restored would make one heck of a gazebo for our festival visit.

I'll bring the sand paper and paint brushes! (I'd bring the paint, but that is probably considered HazMat and my record in that regard is far from stellar!)

[BSS]

GOOD GOD! Like I said in the other thread about Old Taylor, I live right by it. Those pics bring back memories. I couldn't even picture it in my mind looking like that until I see those pics.

I have got to go take some pictures and post them up. The springhouse has two horses that roam around down there, the ground around its basically dirt from where they walk around all the time. They use to keep the landscaping so nice looking! If you ever wanted to do anything there, you better bring your bush hog, landscape architect, about $100000 worth of shrubs and sod, and plenty of elbow grease. I think it's suppose to be sunny this weekend, so I'll go down there and snap a few. I may need some help posting them since I havn't ever done it before.

Chuck,

Its been a long time since I have been past the fence along the road onto the property(15ys or so). Where is the old museum, in relation to the springhouse? Behind the Castle building beside the creek, or is it further down toward the long warehouses? Have you ever been inside the castle building?

Ohhh, I just looked at the pic again. Its right beside the Springhouse isnt it(or it use to be)? I'm not so sure that that building is even there anymore. Ill check it out in the morning when I go to work. Or those bushes are just so tall now you don't really notice it. hmmmmm.

[BSS]

Some people might like to look at these. Go to

http://kymartian.ky.gov/doqq/

Click on the "North Zone" part of Kentucky

Click on the "Lexington" Square

Click on the "I39" Square

Click on the "SW11" Square

Scroll down and you can see a photo of Old Taylor from the sky(and a couple of the Old Crow warehouses

Then to see Old Crow,

Click on the "SW10" Square.

This is the kind of stuff I actually get to do at work. You can get a pic like this of anything in Kentucky, including your house.

Chuck I can see the museum in the photo. It probably is still there but it's doesn't stick out anymore due to the over growth of everything.

[BSS]

Went and looked around after work. The building is still there but its hard to see from the road due to the trees.

The main point to this post is that in the other tread about Old Taylor, I stated that Jim Beam used one of the rack houses. Actually, Wild Turkey must use it. Theres a Semi trailor backed up the the door with Wild Turkey on it. Maybe they are using it to compensate for the loss of the warehouse during the fire a few years back. I think I can get a pic inside the window(that's broken) of the castle and a couple of the fermenting tanks without "trespassing". Ill see what I can do. I would just take the 3 foot leap off the wall and walk around and take pictures. But......Id hate for someone to see them on here and come ask me what the hell I was doing past the fence. I don't think Jim would like me posting pictures obtained from illegal actions on his web site either.

[cowdery]

You asked if I got inside the castle. I did, but there wasn't anything there to speak of. In every closed distillery I've visited, the still house was always pretty well stripped out. Certainly anything with copper in it could be resold. Pretty much all the equipment would be gone. An odd tank here and there would be about it.

[cowdery]

This picture of two rackhouses at Old Crow was taken through the fence, as you can tell if you look in the upper left corner.

[bourbonmed]

And for an encore, how about an aerial view of Bardstown's Oscar Getz museum and the Best Western gazebo?

Omar

[Paradox]

And for an encore, how about an aerial view of Bardstown's Oscar Getz museum and the Best Western gazebo?

Here ya' go. Sorry, I don't have photoshop on my new machine so it had to get done with MS Paint!