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 Turners 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 proo...