RD1 Spirits

In 1865, Horace H. Turner, Samuel M. Clay, and Thomas D. Mitchell established the Ashland Distillery on Manchester Street. This distillery was the first to obtain a federal distillery license in Lexington and was assigned RD #1. Its products were marketed as “Ashland Whiskey." Following years of financial hardship and Turner’s death in 1871, the previous partnership dissolved. William Tarr and Thomas J. Megibben acquired the distillery and restarted whiskey production as Wm. Tarr & Company. They continued to produce the Ashland label and introduced a new brand, initially called “Wm. Tarr Whiskey” and later “Old Tarr.” Both brands were produced in bourbon and rye versions. Another Tarr whiskey label was "Belle of Marion.” In 1879 a fire ravaged the distillery, which was largely of wooden construction. The structures burned quickly and out of control, and from the ashes arose a company reorganization and a rebuild at the cost of $75,000 ($1.8 million today), this time in brick with fire proof slate or metal roofs. Tarr continued to make poor investments in other business ventures, ultimately inviting into the management members of the Stoll family of Lexington who controlled a number of distilleries in central Kentucky. In January 1897 Tarr issued $50,000 in bonds as a last ditch effort to save his distillery. In May of that year, the end came. He declared bankruptcy and all assets were assigned to the Stolls. Those included 10,000 barrels of Tarr’s bourbon and his distillery. The latter was sold at auction in 1899, purchased by a straw bidder for the Kentucky Distilling & Warehouse Co., widely known as “The Whiskey Trust.” The plant finally was eventually closed down by National Prohibition. Today the remains of Tarr’s distillery can be found at the NorthEast entrance to Lexington’s Distillery District. Founder Barry Brinegar and UK football coach Mark Stoops are helping resurrect the spirits distillery in the footprint of the original structures.