Get a taste of Atlanta's new craft distilleries

Insider tip

Among some of its experimental projects, Independent Distilling Co. used Decatur's Three Taverns Feest Noel, a strong, Belgian-style beer spiced with cardamom, allspice and cloves, to create a one-of-a-kind barrel of aged whiskey. Look for a release date in late 2016.

When Old Fourth Distillery (O4D) started making vodka in a tiny storefront on Edgewood Avenue in late December of 2014, more than a century had passed since any sort of spirits were legally produced within the Atlanta city limits.

This story originally appeared in the May/June 2016 edition of Living Intown Magazine.

Independent Distilling on East College Avenue in Decatur had first came to the Atlanta market in July 2014 with a Georgia corn whiskey called Hellbender. This May, the local market expands even more with American Spirit Works set to open an ambitious new distillery and tasting room on Armour Drive near Sweetwater Brewing Co. in the Brookwood Hills area.

Following the booming craft brewing scene, craft distilleries are carving out a niche in a market where customers have a thirst for small batch spirits such as whiskey.

O4D Hand Crafted Vodka is labeled a “Fine Southern Spirit,” nodding to Georgia’s pre-prohibition distilling history. Atlanta brothers Jeff and Craig Moore partnered with several friends and put up their life savings to build out the distillery and tasting room, which prominently features a gleaming, custom-fabricated copper and stainless steel column still.

After a year of perfecting its vodka, Old Fourth released its Southern Dry Gin in December 2015. Made with a blend of botanicals, including juniper berries, grapefruit, lemon and orange peel, cardamom and pink peppercorn, it's an aromatic addition to a martini or gin and tonic.

“It’s not so typical of London dry gin, which has a super punch to the palate with juniper,” Jeff Moore says. “And it’s not an American style, where it’s heavy on the floral elements. We tried to land in the middle with something that could stand out as a bit different.”

Old 4th Distillery is located at 487 Edgewood Ave produces vodka and gin sustainably with non-GMO cane sugar, less energy and no waste. (Jenni Girtman / Atlanta Event Photography)

Beyond vodka and gin, O4D has been aging an American-style bourbon in new oak barrels for release in 2019. And the company recently purchased a second building in the Old Fourth Ward, which will eventually house another, much bigger distillery.

“That’s going to take three years to build,” Moore says. “But that’s what we need to do now to stay ahead. This new facility is going to be designed to be cutting edge. And it’s obviously going to be expensive. But we’re building something for the legacy and the long term.”

Independent Distilling founders Michael Anderson (by day a fundraiser for Zoo Atlanta) and Tommy Williams (an Atlanta entrepreneur) recently expanded their operation, located in a small warehouse between two Decatur breweries, Blue Tarp and Three Taverns. In addition to corn whiskey, the company now produces Independent Rum and limited-edition Hellbender Bourbon Whiskey, which is aged for 15 months in small, charred-oak barrels.

“I think Michael would agree with me, we’re kind of at launch 1.5,” Williams says. “Initially we wanted to make sure we could make some good whiskey. Now, we’ve stepped into the big-boy leagues. We upgraded with a new mash tun and hybrid still, as well a new boiler system to run both of those.

“The ultimate goal is to be able to age more whiskey, because we realized that’s where we need to be. What had been taking us a week to distill is taking us a day to a day and a half now. We finished our tasting room and started doing tours, and that’s been exciting.”

Three bottles of American Spirit Whiskey.

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.

“We launched American Spirit Whiskey back in November of 2011,” Thompson says. “And for four years or so it was just Jim and I doing our best to build the brand. But with the growing interest in locally produced spirits and craft products, we decided to take a leap.

“Last year we raised 1.5 million dollars from friends and family. It’s a pretty big group of investors who are a pretty big sales force for us. So we were able to create ASW Distillery, where we will produce American Spirit Whiskey along with barrel-aged bourbon and some single-malt products working with other grains like rye and barley.”

In addition to whiskey and other spirits, ASW also has big plans to make brandy using Georgia produce such as apples, peaches and other fruit. To that end, the distillery is constructed around imposing twin Vendome copper pot stills made in Kentucky, and includes a large tasting room and adjoining event space.

“The distillery is about 6,500 square feet and the tasting room is about 1,300 square feet,” Thompson says. “And when you compare that to what most people are doing, and the size of our system, it’s pretty ambitious.

“But we think to be located near Sweetwater, in an area that’s changing pretty dramatically from a warehouse district to a loft, office and retail district, is going to be pretty good for us. The tasting room as a venue is going to help us. We think consumers’ palates have expanded pretty dramatically, and we’re going to be able to meet that with our whiskeys and locally produced brandy.”

The earlier-established distilleries have built foundations on supportive neighbors. Moore says that the success of O4D so far is largely due to what he calls the “hyper-local” appeal of its products at bars, restaurants and package stores near the distillery.

“It’s East Atlanta, Virginia-Highland and, of course, Old Fourth Ward, with people who are really close to us,” Moore says. “That’s been awesome to see them really taking to our products and coming out for tours and becoming fans. But as a company we need to grow and expand from there, of course.”

Like Moore, Williams points to the support of area businesses as key to the distillery’s growth.

“Kimball House is right down the street and I can’t say enough good things about those guys, as far as rolling our products out and creating some cocktails,” Williams says. “Mac McGee in Decatur has been really good about doing tastings with their whiskey groups. And Decatur Package has been like our best friend.”