Southern Distillery Tour: Tennessee, Alabama & Louisiana

In early-mid November I embarked on a trip to Lafayette making sure I visited as many distilleries as possible - particularly those that offer a rum expression. 

Drop Zone Distilling, Knoxville Tennessee

This veteran founded distillery offers a company of whiskies, moonshines, flavored moonshines, and other spirits -- including a cane-based rum. Here's their origination story:

"Rod 'Sarge' Parton is on a journey to introduce everyone to the real authentic unadulterated taste of hand-crafted Moonshine made famous from the back hills of Pittman Center, TN by his grandfather and great-grandpap as far back as 1930’s. Rod’s grandfather had a small store up on the river where other shiners would come and get supplies to keep them from having to travel into town and be seen. Rod’s grandfather started making Rye Moonshine in the late 1960’s for a different flavor from the traditional corn-based shine most everyone was making. Rod has now taken the recipes from his great-grandpap’s corn based and his papaw’s rye-based moonshine and perfected the taste of both into Gold Medal Winning very smooth enjoyable shine made for sipping and telling stories around a campfire."

Drop Zone offers three Moonshine expressions based on this family history with the Drop Zone - Legacy 110 Proof, Drop Zone Legacy 135 Proof, and the Drop Zone - Mountain Rye. I purchased a bottle of the rye moonshine in order to savor the moment - great texture, subtle spice and pepper, and easy finish. I also purchased a bottle of the Drop Zone Classic Rum which provides herbaciousness and earthiness - traits not associated with molasses based rums. 

I also need to mention the "Jump Master" Series with an American Single Malt Whiskey, a Rye Whiskey, and a Bourbon Whiskey. All are solid expressions. 

Sweet Home Spirits, Leeds Alabama

Continuing on through our Southern Spirits Tour, I stopped into a relatively new operation located just south of Birmingham, Alabama in the town of Leeds: Sweet Home Spirits. Name after the iconic song of the South and carrying on the tradition of the Swampers of Muscle Shoals this distillery seeks to exude Alabama culture and a love of one’s home. That is why founder Austin Creel, along with his partners, have created Alabama-style whiskies using various mash bills of Rye, Malted Barley, and Corn.

I arrived during their launch of Sweet Home Divided Bourbon encompassing 68% yellow corn -- all sourced from Creel's family farm in Hamilton. Combined with 21% Rye and 11% Malted Barley this Bourbon is finished with charred pecan wood chips to emulate The Heart of Dixie. Very unique. Their signature whiskey however, is the Sweet Home Whiskey, using a 75% sweet corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley mash bill and aged in various American toasted oak casks. If you ever thought of a crushable whiskey, this is it.

My flight also consisted of the Campfire Whiskey and Cask Strength Bourbon Whiskey. The former is produced by soaking cinnamon sticks into the Sweet Home Whiskey whereas the Cask Strength has a similar mash bill but bottled at 120 proof. A couple drops of water tempers the heat and allow the vanilla and other baking spices to rise.

Wildcat Brothers Distilling, Lafayette Louisiana 

Gator Cove is our home base during our trips to The Pelican State and we are well versed on their regular expressions as well as their limited edition offerings. Particularly through cocktails. However, their newest rum is the limited edition L. Ferrer. This 4-year dark rum was aged in virgin, charred American white oak barrels - replicating the process of aging bourbon.  I'll let the distillery explain "the story behind Wildcat Brothers' new rum, L. Ferrer, draws inspiration from a tantalizing legend about the infamous pirate Jean Laffite. Laffite, a notorious figure in the Gulf of Mexico, was deeply involved in smuggling and privateering, building a reputation as a bold and clever outlaw. After his supposed death in the early 1820s, rumors persisted that he had not truly perished, but instead faked his demise to escape the authorities and his enemies. According to legend, Laffite adopted a new identity, living out the rest of his days as Lorendzo Ferrer in peaceful obscurity." During my three nights visiting Gator Cove, this was a popular option both over ice and in bottle sales. 

Louisiana Spirits Distillery, Lacassine Louisiana

The Bayou Rum Distillery is located about an hour west of Lafayette and was instituted to bring Louisiana rum to the world. From the outset, production has been managed by Cuban born and second-generation rum maker Reiniel Vicente Diaz. His father Omar Vicente was Master Blender of a Cuban rum distillery for 15 years before relocating to the Dominican Republic where the younger Reiniel worked alongside him at the Oliver & Oliver rum company. 

When visiting I recommend the short self guided tour in the media room - paying close attention to the photos and wall posters. Then on to a flight which consisted of eight samples in my case. This starts with the Bayou® White Rum - the core of the portfolio - distilled using their pot still and proofed with triple filtered fresh local water. The Bayou® Pink provides more berry and floral notes with the addition of  local mayhaw berries. Getting into the aged rums, they were all solid expressions starting with the solera Bayou® Reserve Rum aged in ex-bourbon barrels for up to four years. The Bayou® Single Batch #3 is equally unique maturing in California red wine barrels for five years.  

The Bayou® XO Mardi Gras was actually the rationale behind my visit as it was one of two American rums mentioned by Ian Burrell in the American rum chapter of his latest book: Rum A Tasting Course: A Flavor-Focused Approach to the World of Rum.  The rum was matured in bourbon barrels for up to five years and then finished for one additional year in Spanish Pedro Ximenez sherry barrels. Just a fantastic expression - incorporating the orange, fig, and nut characters of the sherry.

The flight finished with three notable expressions starting with the Bayou® Spiced Rum that was inspired by Louisianan Creole baking and  includes three styles of natural vanilla, cinnamon and sweet figs. Then there are the two Gator Bite Louisiana Liqueurs. The Satsuma + Rum offering is sweet oranges - hitting all the Curaçao components. The Coffee + Rum is exactly what you would expect. I envision quick espresso martinis. 

NOËL Family Distillery, Donaldsonville Louisiana 

The NOËL Family Distillery is located just 25 feet above sea level on the banks of the Mississippi, about 35 miles south of Baton Rouge. This is a father-daughter team that graduated from the Moonshine Academy together in order to start a distillery producing rum from molasses and  sugar cane processed at the nearby Cora-Texas Mfg. Co plant in White Castle.  Although centered in Donaldsonville, Chip Noel travelled the globe as a jet pilot whereas daughter Natalie remained local studying marketing at ULL and earning a M.B.A. at LSU. Both visionaries to start a distillery.

On my visit Chip walked me through ta curated flight of their current portfolio, excluding the canned cocktails and Tequila which is made from a proprietary blend of lowland and highland Blue Weber agave in Jalisco, Mexico.  I started with their Rare 6YR Reserve Rum distilled from high-test molasses. Unlike traditional molasses, high-test molasses is not a byproduct of sugar production, but rather a product that is produced instead of sugar. Sipping from home, I can observe dried apricots, caramel, vanilla and an easy finish. The distillery also has a 6YR: Tequila Cask Finished Rum that is distilled from Grade-A molasses and aged in white American oak and finished in ex-tequila barrels. Grade A molasses is the highest quality molasses and most desirable grade, characterized by its good flavor, good color, and minimal defects. This expression is also highly complex with an interesting butterscotch character. 

The flight continued with a Charcoal Filtered Vodka and the Pickle Flavored Vodka. This last was not a favorite of mine, but apparently is with the younger crowd. On the other, I also purchased a bottle of the Charcoal Filtered Vodka which is a fresh clean spirit made from 100% American corn and as the name suggests, charcoal filtered to remove any impurities. The final offering in the flight was a soon to be release Rhum Agricole distilled from cane juice and having all the funky herbaceous notes you expect from this process. Will need to return to add this rum to our collection. 

Perdido Vineyards (Boogie Bottom Spirits), Perdido Alabama

To say the Perdido Vineyards has been a pioneer in the Alabama craft beverage industry is such an understatement. They do hold winery license #1 as the first farm winery in The Heart of Dixie. In fact, founders Jim and Marianne Eddins (who started growing muscadine grapes in 1972) worked with the legislative sponsors to enact the Alabama Native Farm Winery Act of 1979. Prior to this legislation, wineries could only sell to state stores, wholesalers, or out of state and not to retailers and consumers.  In 2002, the couple expanded their operation to include wine vinegars, then fortified wines, cider, and eventually distilled spirits through Boogie Bottom Spirits.

Whereas the winery specializes in many Muscadine expressions, I focused on the fortified wines and spirits. learning all about their various wines, rum, and brandy.  For instance, the rum is made from Alabama sugar cane harvested and processed by farmers who are located very close to the estate. The Joe Cane Rhum Agricole is made straight from the cane juice and is as earthy and funky as expected. The Shipwreck Alabama Rum is their entry level expression with a distinct creamy body and is named after a reputed rum runner and his story, known as the “Whiskey Wreck”.  The 100 proof Blue & Gold Alabama Rum provides more vanilla than the 80 proof Shipwreck and packs a little bite.

As for the fortified wine, I sampled the Satsuma Orange and the Marianne Sherry Style and purchased a bottle of the Marianne to join the Shipwreck on my drive home. I selected the first because I wanted to mentally compare it to the Bayou Satsuma + Rum and it has a similar strong citrus component with a very approachable and lengthy finish. The Marianne (obviously named after Marianne Eddins) was a complete surprise, it is equivalent to the Oloroso style with the muscadine flavors achieving more of  nutty and fig character.  

John Emerald Distilling Company, Opelika Alabama

John Emerald Distilling is a small craft distillery located in downtown Opelika - located in eastern Alabama just northeast of Auburn.  The distillery was founded by former home brewers and father and son team John and Jimmy Sharp in 2015 becoming the first post-prohibition distillery in Alabama. That's a century of illegal stills operating in The Heart of Dixie. The operation is named after John’s Father and honored with their flagship spirit: the Alabama Single Malt Whiskey - a single malt whiskey made in the American Single Malt style and the first whiskey to be legally made in Alabama in 100 years.

The offer spirits from multiple spirits categories and I started with three rum samples starting with Sarah's Silver Rum which is made from local pure cane syrup from Headland, Alabama and dark moncovado cane sugar from the Mauritius Islands. The later is is a type of unrefined cane sugar that retains a significant amount of molasses, resulting in a rich, dark brown color and a robust, almost bitter flavor. Gene's Spiced Rum starts with the Silver and is augmented with Alabama Pecans, Madagascar vanilla beans, Indonesian cinnamon sticks, and star anise pods from Southern China. I came home with a bottle of Spurgeon's Barrel Aged Rum which was the first rum made in Alabama and is barrel aged in their used single malt whiskey barrels for two years. This is a must buy for rum collectors. 

I concluded the tasting with a sample of their Casa Esmeralda Anejo. This agave spirit is made from 100% blue weber agave and aged one year in a white oak barrel. A very smooth offering to close our the tour.