The Edmund H. Taylor, Jr., Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Kentucky, of which George T. Stagg is president and Samuel R. Smith is treasurer, own probably the finest plant for whiskey manufacture in the country, taking into consideration the daily distilling capacity. Its' two distilleries, O.F.C. and Carlisle are located on the east bank of the Kentucky River, about one mile below Frankfort, and adjacent to Lock Number 4.  It is the ancient site of Leestown, one of the earliest settlements of Kentucky.  The O.F.C. Distillery is a handsome brick and stone structure, three stories high with ornamental slate covered tower, surmounted by a galvanized iron spire.  Its' interior is filled with machinery of costly pattern, and subdivided into apartments suited to each branch of manufacture. The modern tolling mill is used for breaking the grain and the process is the old-fashioned copper distilled hand made sour mash method, which has for years given to Kentucky its national celebrity as the producer of the fine whiskies.  The fermenting vats hold over 14,000 gallons each an differ from any others in use elsewhere, being constructed of brick land in English Portland cement and lined with roller copper.  The fermentation is accomplished under the seventy two hour plan, aided by strained spent beer of a previous distillation.

The Carlisle Distillery is three stories high, and built of brick on basement foundation made of large blocks of Kentucky limestone, hammer dressed.  It is also supplied with fine machinery, copper stills and every appliance necessary to perfect distillation.  The fermentation is on the seventy two hour plan, aided by strained spent beer.  The daily capacity of the O. F. C. and Carlisle Distilleries is 500 bushels each. The springs that supply these distilleries emerge from limestone cliffs and are impregnated with propertie drawn from the waters of the depressed apex of the lower Silurian formation, which alone, of the entire West, outcrops in this region.  The main reservoir to collect these waters is a stone basin, half a mile from the distilleries, whence it is forced by powerful pumps to the distillery tanks.  The warehouses attached to the O. F. C. and Carlisle distilleries are six in number, from one to four stories high, built of brick and having a total storage capacity of nearly 70,000 barrels. Attached to the distillery premises, which occupy a plat of about twenty acres, are cattle pens, elevator, cistern rooms, office and dwellings, the whole erected at a cost, including improvements of over $500.00.  George T. Stagg, proprietor of the above, was born December 19, 1835 in Garrard County, Kentucky.

Check out KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON  and BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY for information on Kentucky Bourbon makers.

Source:
Kentucky - A History of the State, by Perrin, Battle and Kniffin, 1887

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