This vintage "dusty" Old Taylor Bourbon was distilled in 1951 and bottled by National Distillers at the long-defunct Old Taylor Castle distillery in Frankfort in 1955 at 100 proof and packaged in a lovely Art Deco decanter!
Edmund Haynes Taylor Jr is considered one of the true bourbon pioneers. Born in 1830, he was orphaned at the age of five and was adopted by his uncle, Edmund Haynes Taylor Snr, who rechristened him as his junior. E.H. Taylor Jr is also referred to as Colonel Taylor due to his holding of the honourary title of Kentucky Colonel, something he shares with a number of state's distinguished sons, most notably a certain fried chicken vendor.
Throughout his career, Taylor set up and owned seven different distilleries, and his lobbying for the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 has seen him considered as "the father of modern bourbon." Ten years earlier, having sold his stake in the OFC distillery (now Buffalo Trace), to George T. Stagg, he set up the Old Taylor distillery near Frankfort in Kentucky. The distillery featured a faux-Castle and sunken gardens on-site, and was the birthplace of bourbon tourism. Here he established the Old Taylor brand, which following Prohibition passed into the hands of National Distillers, one of the "big four" distilling company's who dominated the post-repeal market. The distillery itself closed in 1972, but production was moved to the neighboring Old Grand-dad site until National Distillers were acquired by Jim Beam in 1987, who converted it into a warehousing and bottling facility. Beam marketed the brand alongside the other "Olds" from the National Distiller portfolio (Old Crow and Old Grand-dad) until 2009 when the Sazerac Company acquired it, returning Taylor's name to his early spiritual home at Buffalo Trace.
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