Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Drinks Corsair Distillery Aiming at Yazoo Location
Posted by Carrington Fox on Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 6:38 AM
When I emailed the guys at Corsair Artisan Distillery to ask if they had finalized a deal to occupy the Yazoo Tap Room at Marathon Village, it took them a while to respond. Corsair president Andrew Webber was at the state capitol for the signing of a bill that now allows Corsair to produce spirits in Tennessee, and owner Darek Bell was in Islay, Scotland, at the Bruichladdich Distilling Academy, of which he is now a graduate.
Webber and Bell ultimately confirmed that they are in the process of negotiating to take over the Yazoo Brewery space at the old Marathon Motorworks when Yazoo moves to the Gulch early next year.
A state bill passed two months ago allows Corsair to produce liquor in Tennessee, so the Nashville-domiciled company is in the process of establishing a second distillery here. The year-old Bowling Green, Ky., facility will continue producing Corsair's bourbon and malt whiskeys, while a Nashville plant will produce experimental and limited-release whiskeys, as well as unaged spirits such as gin, spiced rum, vanilla vodka and red absinthe.
A deal and move-in date have not been finalized with the Marathon property.
Comments (5)
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'splain me this - what law had to be changed in a state that already has the George Dickel and Jack Daniel's distilleries ?
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Sorry sir, I'm only a 20-year veteran food writer and native Tennessean. You'll have to find a politcian to answer that question.
It was not impossible to open distilleries before, just very, very difficult. The old law was crafted when prohibition was lifted, and to a certain extent it grandfathered in Dickel and Jack Daniels because they'd been such big producers-and employers-before prohibition. Basically, there were a lot of hoops to jump through for a county to allow distilleries at all, and it had to be done on a county by county basis. Most counties were slow to even bother allowing liquor sales-some still haven't-much less liquor making.
I'm not a native Tennessean nor do I understand any of the weird cultures here around liquor (make Jack Daniels, but don't give tastings or sell it at the distillery; beer in grocery stores = good wine in grocery stores = end of civilized society) but I believe that Dickel and JD were started before some of the liquor laws in place so they are grandfathered in.
Even more exciting news about Corsair is that they are working on a pumpkin spice whiskey for fall release. I'm already imagining all the possibilities of warm whiskey goodness. Hot buttered whiskey? Yes, please!
