Castle & Key Wheated Cask Strength

There are bourbons I drink … and there are bourbons I like. And the two are not always the same. Some bourbons I immediately like; others I grow to like. With some of Castle & Key’s earlier releases, I was less than impressed. This one - Castle & Key’s 7-year Wheated Cask Strength — absolutely falls into the bourbons I like. But before we get to the glass, let’s take a little stroll through Castle & Key’s backstory, because this place has one of the most romantic, movie-worthy histories in all of bourbon.

Steeped in History 

To understand Castle & Key, you have to picture what bourbon was like back in the late 1800s — before the big brands, before the tourist centers, before we all argued on the internet about barrel picks. In 1887, Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. — yes, that E.H. Taylor — decided to build a distillery unlike anything Kentucky had ever seen. He modeled it after the European castles he admired, complete with a limestone castle, a formal springhouse, and manicured gardens. It became the birthplace of early bourbon hospitality. 

Then came Prohibition in 1920, which shut the whole operation down, and the property began a long slide into ruin. By the time modern bourbon lovers rediscovered it, roofs had collapsed, doors were boarded up, and nature had pretty much reclaimed the place, making it look more like ruins from a Zombie-apocalypse.

Enter Will Arvin, who stumbled across old photos of the distillery in 2012 and couldn’t get it out of his mind. After seeing it in person — overgrown, dark, in shambles — he partnered with Wesley Murry, purchased the property in 2014, and began restoring the Old Taylor Distillery back to glory. In 2018, the reborn Castle & Key opened to the public, transforming wreckage into one of the most beautiful distilleries in the country

The Tasting

Like the other Castle & Key whiskeys, the packaging is pure magic, with a heavy, deeply carved bottle, red label, and a stopper that serves as a tribute to the chandelier in the springhouse. The label shares this is from Batch 1, blended in 2024 and is bottled at 105.8 proof. The mash bill is 73% white corn, 10% wheat, and 17% malted barley.

Eye: Bright amber — like late-summer sunlight hitting a glass table. Clean, rich, and glowing.

Nose: This one comes across friendly right from the start, with notes of vanilla, caramel, and fruit blossoms (think apple and peach). It’s sweet but not sugary, floral but not perfumy. It invites you in.

Palate: A creamy mouthfeel greets you in a silky in that “how is this 105.8 proof?” kind of way. The flavors are gentle with vanilla, spice, and almost a almost dessert-like vibe with a fried-cinnamon doughnut. This is very smooth - surprisingly so for a cask-strength wheater.

Finish: A long, warm finish that just keeps climbing — a vanilla crescendo backed by cinnamon spice and toasted oak. The kind of finish that makes you pause mid-sentence when it kicks in.

Overall Thoughts

I’ve liked some of Castle & Key’s earlier bourbons… but I’ve enjoyed this one more. A lot more. The extra years of aging have allowed the flavors to mature in and feels like Castle & Key settling into who they’re becoming as a distillery. The 7 years, the wheated profile, the cask-strength proof… it all comes together in a pour that’s both comforting and quietly impressive.