Atlanta Restaurants & Food
Old 4th Distillery Public Tours & Tastings Begin Today
Today Old Fourth Distillery, Atlanta's first distillery since prohibition in 1906, is open for public tours and tastings. Every Thursday from 2-7 p.m., tours can be booked via phone (844.OLD.FOUR). The last distillery in Atlanta before the prohibition was R.M. Rose Co., and an homage to their legacy is the hand-crafted slogan on each bottle "ask the revenue officer".
Brothers Jeff and Craig Moore, along with their friends Gabe Pilato, Justin Gray and Andy DuVall are the masterminds behind the distillery, and they aim to bring back the history of distilleries to Atlanta. Old Fourth Distillery's Kickstarter campaign in 2013 raised $40,372 toward this goal.
AJC had the opportunity to take a tour of Old Fourth Distillery before the opening. Here's what to expect:
The mash mixer (left) heats water and sugar before cooling down to 80 degrees in the heat exchanger (right)
Yeast sits in the fermentation vessel to process for five days
These stills were manufactured in Germany for O4D. The manufacturing room had to be dug out to fit the two 12.5 foot stills so that they didn't go through the ceiling.
This old dairy tank is where the vodka is cold filtered. The vodka never touches carbon during this process.
The vodka sits in the resting vessels for anywhere from three days to three weeks. O4D will be taste testing the different outcomes to determine the best flavor.
The bottles are filled to exactly 750 mL. Right now, the machine will process through 300 bottles an hour.
- Only a one-ounce pour can be tasted. As you raise the medicine-sized cup to your lips, you'll smell hints of vanilla and creme brulee. The vodka goes down smooth and coats your throat with the sweetness of browned sugar. The vodka is made from cane sugar and is non-GMO.
Find them:
487 Edgewood Boulevard, Atlanta
