Medium & Craft Distillery Founders
Southeastern States
(Alabama, Georgia & Mississippi)
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Below are links to Whiskey Founders Life Stories that have made huge contributions to the growth of the Southeastern Whiskey Industry and American Whiskeys in general. These may have been historical figures that lived long ago before prohibition or may be living leaders that have advanced the cause of the industry as a whole.
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Graham Arthur
13th Colony Distillery
Graham didn’t always dream of making whiskey. Growing up, he was more interested in science and the outdoors. But one summer during college, he took a trip to Kentucky and toured a few distilleries. The scent of aging barrels, the bubbling of the mash, and the smooth taste of bourbon sparked something in him.
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Amy Brown
Doc Brown Farm & Distillers
Doc Brown Farm & Distillers isn’t just a place where grain becomes bourbon; it’s a family story folded into 120 acres of Georgia soil, and at the center of that story is Amy Brown. A corporate warrior turned “bourbon farmer,” Amy’s path from mortgage investment banking to seed-to-glass distilling reads like a modern American reinvention
Jim Chasteen
A.S.W. Distillery
As friends and University of Georgia roommates, Jim Chasteen and Charlie Thompson developed a passion for whiskey and conceived the idea of starting their own operation. A "craft startup", they produced their first brand, American Spirit Whiskey. After building their reputation and raising capital, in 2016, they opened the distillery in Atlanta's Amour Yard district.
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Austin Creel
Sweet Home Spirits
It started with a song. Or rather, with how a song followed him across the ocean. In 2017, Creel was traveling in Spain. A simple question: “Where are you from?” kept sparking an unexpected reaction. Whenever he said, “Alabama,” the response was almost magical—broad smiles, laughter, the unmistakable guitar lick of “Sweet Home Alabama”…
Clinton Dugan
Shortbarrel Distillery
Clinton is a storyteller who listens to whiskey, an impatient marketer who learned to wait for barrels, a husband and father who still posts the odd candid to Instagram, and the legacy distillery he kept alive for a city that loved it. The outcome is some of the South’s best craft whiskey.
Jeff Dugas
Dread River Distillery
In the spring of 2017, Jeff Dugas and John Cubelic formally began planning a new craft whiskey distillery under the name Dread River Distilling Company. The name “Dread River” reflects a combination of myth, metaphor, and place, inspired by the legend of a subterranean waterway flowing beneath the city of Birmingham, Alabama.
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Austin Evans
Cathead Distillery
In 2008, the seed of Cathead Distillery took root when, at the Sunflower Blues Festival in Clarksdale, MS, Austin Evans and his future co-founder Richard Patrick sat among fans and players and began to imagine a brand that would honor Mississippi’s blues tradition as readily as it would make vodka and whiskey.
J. Jeffrey Irons
Irons ONE Distillery
Jeff Irons emphasizes small batches and quality ingredients. Using locally sourced grains and natural resources allows this distillery to create truly remarkable spirits. His motto is “From my hands to yours” and it is printed on the label of every bottle he sells. It is not just a motto but a sentiment that drives him and the company to create the best whiskey they can.
Clyde May
Conecuh Ridge Distillery
Clyde May made illegal moonshine for more than 40 years but was only arrested once, in 1973. May then served an eight-month stint incarcerated at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Upon his release, he set his stills back up and continued his moonshine operation, producing 300 gallons a week.
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Their flagship single-malt whiskey is made from 100% malted barley, aged in 15-gallon, virgin Ozark White Oak barrels with a level #2 char for two to four years. John Emerald Distillery also utilizes three-barrel high stacking and a temperature-controlled warehouse, in a peculiar attempt to artificially create season changes and speed up the aging process.