Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Travel Advisory It's Easy to Love Your Neighbor in Kelso, Tenn. — Home of Prichards' Distillery
Posted by Nicki Wood on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 5:28 AM
- prichardsdistillery.com
I've taken winery tours but never a distillery tour before, because, really, seen one concrete-floored room with a drain and lots of tanks, seen 'em all.
But Prichard's captures the fancy by being in the old Kelso schoolhouse. The world maps are still in the classrooms. Bathrooms are still marked Girls and Boys. The basket lights still illuminate the gym, and the basketball goals and the disco ball are still in place.
The stills, which will soon be replaced, are of a manageable size — you do really get the feeling that small batches are being made, because you can get your brain around how much 500 gallons is.
The tour is brief because the school is smallish. It starts in a large classroom that serves as the tasting room and moves through the warehouse, fermenting and distilling rooms in the bottling and labeling room, where employees spend a day a week bottling and another day each week labeling.
And then back to the tasting room for a sip of Sweet Lucy, a bourbon cordial, some Double Barrel bourbon, a thimbleful of Phil Prichard's zany flavored rums and, treat of treats, a drop of the Private Stock rum, a caramel-vanilla confection that's the only liquor sold from the distillery.
Prichard's is growing rapidly, and considered moving to another facility but decided to add on instead. It's a fine stop for a road trip. (It's about an hour and and a half south of Nashville in Lincoln County.)
To make it a fine afternoon, drive down the road to Elk River Canoe Rentals with your purchase and float a couple of lazy, rummy hours down the river.
Pictures from my visit after the jump.
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