Bourbon Pairing Dinner with Castle & Key Distillery

Kentucky bourbon, a three-course dinner, and a night in downtown Utica built around both. Silk is partnering with Castle & Key Distillery for a bourbon pairing dinner with a welcome cocktail, three pours, and a menu from Chef de Cuisine Mikaela Westcott designed to match each one.

The Distillery

Castle & Key operates on the grounds of the historic Old Taylor Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Colonel E.H. Taylor built a springhouse there over a natural limestone spring he believed was the key to great bourbon. Prohibition shut the distillery down, and the property eventually sat abandoned for decades. In 2014, a multi-year restoration brought it back, keeping the original brick and 19th-century machinery alongside modern distilling equipment. Their Restoration Rye came out in 2020, and the flagship Small Batch Bourbon followed in 2022. You'll taste both.

The Evening

Welcome Cocktail: A black Manhattan built on Restoration Rye 5 Year with Averna, Cynar, and mocha pecan and apple walnut bitters, finished with caramel corn pinned to the glass.

The Pours: Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon, Cask Strength Wheated Bourbon, and Haitian Rhum Cask Rye.

Starter: Cucumber rounds with lemon dill cream cheese and smoked salmon over red cabbage slaw.

Main: Filet with chimichurri, patatas bravas, and garlic lemon broccolini.

Dessert: Chocolate mousse and crème brûlée with bourbon caramel.

Stay for the Night

The bar stays open after dinner. Copper City Cigars & Lounge from Rome will be on site selling cigars to take home, but smoking isn't permitted inside Silk.

Tickets: $110 per person

Includes the welcome cocktail, three bourbon pours, and a three-course dinner. Tax and gratuity are charged the day of the event.

Seating is limited, and so is the bourbon.