Leiper’s Fork Distillery has quietly been producing some outstanding whiskey out of its intentionally less-than-efficient still, using a delightful combination of old Scottish and moonshiner methods to create bottled-in-bond Tennessee whiskeys and ryes. Founder/distiller Lee Kennedy is a big supporter of the military, specifically, an organization called The Freedom & Whiskey Foundation that provides support for retiring members of the special operations forces (SOF) community as they transition back into civilian life.
Many of these retirees have spent more than a decade conducting extremely dangerous operations while being deployed in faraway places, so the transition to a more “normal” life can be difficult. The Freedom & Whiskey Foundation seeks to offer scholarships for academic and job training to help these former SOF carve out new lives.
To raise funds and awareness for this mission, Leiper’s Fork is holding an open house at the distillery at 3381 Southall Rd. in Franklin tomorrow, March 31, from 6-9 p.m. Representatives of FWF will be in attendance to discuss the foundation’s mission more fully, and Kennedy will be offering two special commemorative whiskeys with 100 percent of proceeds going toward a scholarship for a SOF service member. One expression will be a Tennessee Whiskey Single Barrel and the other is a Tennessee Whiskey Small Batch of 200 bottles only. The event is free and craft cocktails will be available for purchase.
