Atlanta's ASW Distillery open for tours and tastings

The largest of Atlanta's new craft distilleries, ASW is now open for weekly tours and tastings, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 2-4:30 p.m. Saturdays.

Before they built their own distillery in Atlanta, University of Georgia friends Jim Chasteen and Charlie Thompson created a recipe for what became American Spirit, an “unaged” and “ultra-filtered” white whiskey made in Charleston, S.C.

Last year, Chasteen and Thompson raised 1.5 million dollars from friends and family to create ASW Distillery on Armour Drive near SweetWater Brewing Co., where they are producing American Spirit Whiskey along with barrel-aged bourbon and some single-malt products with other grains, including rye and barley.