If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup text link is at the top of the right sidebar above our Facebook Page link. Picked up this Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Reserve (one of the older MGP sourced bottles) from the ever increasing American Whiskey selection at Oldfield. Tip: I hear the chocolatier near the Stillhouse is pretty great, too. You can sign up for “grain to glass” tours of the small distillery, or just hang out and chat with the knowledgeable bartenders about what you’re drinking and anything else you want to know about the city. I liked all of them, but especially the Mint Julep. The “1816” is homage to the year that the trading post that would become the city of Chattanooga was established on the nearby Tennessee River. It’s a cozy place made with a lot of reclaimed wood, plus imaginative touches like lighting fixtures made with whiskey barrel staves, filament light bulbs, and curls of copper still piping.Ĭhattanooga Whiskey interior with barrel stave light (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Ī sample flight (left to right in the top photo) includes their versions of an Old Fashioned, a Whiskey Rickey using juniper-infused syrup with 1816 Cask, 1816 Reserve straight up, 1816 Cask straight up, a Pomegranate Limeade, and a Mint Julep using 1816 Reserve. The Stillhouse has a long bar, room for some tables and chairs, plus a patio and a small store in front. Now, they’re finally able to do it in downtown Chattanooga. That makes it a pretty tough business to get going, since the money is all flowing out for quite awhile before you actually have something to sell to get cash flow going the other way.Ĭhattanooga Whiskey is only very recently making their product onsite, in the custom-made copper still named “Doc.” In order to get some product going even before the law changed, they distilled in Indiana and bottled in Nashville. Labeling station at Chattanooga Whiskey (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Ī craft beer brewery can be cranking out beer for sale in fairly short order, but whiskey needs to age for a few years, normally in wooden barrels that give it a distinct flavor and color. Even though in the late 1800’s there were 30 distilleries in the area, Prohibition forced their closure and it took a lot of petitioning, lobbying and the Vote Whiskey campaign to convince lawmakers to change the law. The Chattanooga Whiskey Stillhouse is now distilling the first (legal) whiskey in the city of Chattanooga in over 100 years. Product description Mash Bill: 75 corn, 21 rye, 4 malted barley Age: Blend of barrels between 2 and 10 years old Created by selecting barrels from the hottest and driest portions of the rick house - which are not only higher proof - but exhibit a bolder, sweeter, spicier, more barrel-forward character. Wait, you mean there’s a spirits Mecca in Tennessee besides Jack Daniels in Lynchburg? Why, yes, and it’s just across the street from the famous Choo Choo. On a recent trip to Tennessee, I was introduced to a distillery that used a Facebook and social media campaign Vote Whiskey to change the distilling laws in their county so that they could begin making whiskey in downtown Chattanooga – Chattanooga Whiskey. The turning point was probably the hand-crafted vermouth which helped create the best Manhattan of my life at Philadelphia’s Oyster House. Similar to my approach to craft beer – I don’t know much, but I know what tastes good to me – I’ve started paying more attention to how cocktails are made and the origins of their ingredients. Even beer-crazy Wisconsin has distilleries popping up (check the link for one that specializes in Hmong rice spirits.)Īt the risk of sounding like a booze hound, this is a trend that I’m happy to embrace. Without a doubt one of the most significant brands in Chatanooga's history, Chattanooga Whisky continues to succeed as an iconic and respected whisky producer, coming full circle and proudly demonstrating its abilities to bring back whiskey to the people.You’ve heard of sampling a beer flight? This is a Chattanooga Whiskey flight (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Īlong with the growing worldwide interest in craft beer and “farm to fork” seasonal cooking with as many local ingredients as possible, there’s also a lot of activity around craft spirits – artisanal makers of hard liquor like bourbon, whiskey, gin, etc. This leader in innovation has since become an acclaimed brand of Tennessee high-malt bourbon and now offers several iterations of favored, award-winning whiskey including a line of experimental batches, single barrels, and bottled-in-bond bourbons. This allowed for the opening of the first legal distillery in Chattanooga since Prohibition in 2015. Eventually, Chattanooga Whiskey became the catalyst for change, spreading public awareness and partitioning a change in Prohibition-ear distilling laws. After launching its 1816 branded whiskey in 2012, the company faced pushback due to where the product was originally manufactured (sourced through MGP/LDI of Indiana). Established in 2011 with the mindset to bring back "Whiskey to the People", Chattanooga Whiskey was founded by Tim Piersant and Joe Ledbetter.
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