Scott Mayer of Blended Family Spirits
Thanks to state pride, anything infused with peaches will get at least a taste, but usually a following, distillers say. popular craft brewery in Atlanta, soon plan to get into the distilling arena, following a trend by beer makers looking to expand. And in Thomasville, 1861 Distillery plans to open this year. In Valdosta, glass producer Arglass Yamamura fired up its furnaces last December at its new plant, its first new construction in years. It is bringing nearly 200 jobs to the area and has a capacity for 265 million units per year. There is a long way to go for Georgia to get back to its pre-Prohibition number of distill-
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Justin Douglas of Simple Man Distillery
eries, but today’s producers are not afraid of the hard work and most are happy to be a part of modern history. The connection forged with consumers now lays the groundwork for future success, says Moon. He refurbished a 1908 cotton warehouse to house his still and taproom and it offers a sense of what was with what can be. “We’re a smaller distiller, less industrial,” he says, “but the feeling when someone comes in here is more about camaraderie and a sense of friendship. This is for people who love whiskey and when they are together they
automatically have something in common.” He notes that all of the whiskey he produces are his recipes and are in-house, grain to-glass-production. This is Georgia, Moon says. “We are about [tradition] and take pride in what we do.” ■ Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this article, several quotations from Britt Moon were incorrectly attributed to Scott Mayer. This article has been updated to reflect the correct quotations.
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