Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., who was born in Columbus, Kentucky, in 1832, was a grand nephew of U.S. President Zachary Taylor. Like various other figures in the Kentucky whiskey industry, Taylor is often referred to in public relations materials as a "Colonel", since he held the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel. Taylor started and owned seven different distilleries throughout his career, the most successful being the O.F.C. and Carlisle distilleries, the forerunners of today's Buffalo Trace Distillery. His advancements towards the industry, along with his fight for purity and legitmacy of bourbon earned him the title "Father of the Modern Bourbon Industry".
Taylor's distillery on Glenn's Creek, near Frankfort, was designed to resemble a medieval castle with the landscaped grounds of an estate.
By 1972, the historic "castle" distillery structure had been abandoned. The facility was refurbished starting in 2015, and began operating as a distillery again in 2016.
