Taylor acquired a tiny distillery on the Kentucky River’s banks in 1869. Taylor started updating and modernizing the distillery, which he dubbed the OFC (OFC stood for Old Fire Copper) Distillery. He bought copper fermentation tanks, new grain grinding machinery, and distinctive columnar stills. Taylor also used a number of cutting-edge distilling methods during his time there, including as maturing whiskey in climate-controlled rickhouses.

The vast majority of distilleries at the time had yet to age their bourbon. Some distillers and dealers sweetened their bourbon with juices and syrups to make their spirits more pleasant, while others added tobacco and acid to give their bourbon its distinctive amber color colonel e h taylor small batch.

Equipped with a political background and distilling expertise, Taylor worked with Treasury Secretary John G. Carlisle to help enact the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897 (27 C.F.R. 5.21). The act stipulated that any alcohol labeled as “Bonded” or “Bottled-in-Bond” be the result of one distiller at one distillery during one distillation season. The Act also mandated that bonded spirits be bottled at 100 proof and matured for at least four years in a federally bonded storage overseen by the US government.

Crafted from carefully chosen barrels, this bourbon is bottled uncut, straight from the barrel, at a proof of over 125. It is unfiltered and pure. This method is similar to the methods used to make whiskey at Buffalo Trace Distillery, which was owned by Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., prior to Prohibition. The spirit, aged in barrels in rickhouses built by Taylor more than a century ago, is exceptionally smooth. A gold medal was awarded to this exceptional bourbon in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Get a bottle of this colonel e h taylor bourbon right now!

Colonel E.H. Taylor Barrel Notes on Tasting

The nose first detects the aroma of cooked berries, then a rich caramel scent with a hint of floweriness. The mouth is filled with a distinct flavor of pepper, dry oak, and toasty vanilla, and the taste is strong and spicy. With a strong rye profile and lingering fruit notes, the finish is lengthy and gratifying.