Blackthorn Distilling Co.
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Est. 1987 · Lynchburg, Tennessee
Small-batch Tennessee whiskey, made the slow way since 1987: copper pot stills, limestone spring water, and charred new American oak.
Tours Thursday–Sunday at 11am, 1pm & 3pm · 88 Barrel House Rd, Lynchburg, TN · (931) 555-0173
Every bottle begins in the same place: Coldwater Hollow limestone spring water, a pair of hand-hammered copper pot stills, and barrels coopered from charred new American oak. Where they end up is a matter of patience.
No. 1
92 Proof · Aged 5+ Years
Brown sugar and toasted pecan up front, settling into vanilla bean and warm corn sweetness, with a long, gentle oak finish. Our flagship since 1992, and the bottle we pour first on every tour.
$48 / 750ml
No. 2
100 Proof · 95% Rye Mash
Bold baking spice and cracked black pepper, dark cherry through the middle, and a clean herbal snap of mint on the finish. Built for an Old Fashioned, and stubborn enough to stand alone.
$54 / 750ml
No. 3 · Reserve
Barrel Proof · Unfiltered
Pulled one barrel at a time from the top floors of Rickhouse A, where Tennessee summers do their deepest work. Dark caramel, leather, tobacco leaf, stewed fig, and charred oak. No two barrels alike.
$120 / 750ml
All three expressions are sold in the barrel house shop, Thursday–Sunday, 10am–5pm. Tennessee law limits purchases to three bottles per person per day.
Walk the still house floor, stand under twelve stories of sleeping barrels, and finish with a seated tasting of all three expressions, poured by the people who made them.
Thursday through Sunday at 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm. Each tour lasts about 90 minutes: a one-hour walking tour followed by a 30-minute guided tasting.
$25 per person, guided tasting included. Reserve by phone at (931) 555-0173. Walk-ins welcome when space allows; groups of eight or more must book ahead.
21 and over only, with a valid government-issued photo ID. No exceptions: we can't admit minors even with a parent or guardian, and we card everyone.
Wear closed-toe shoes; the rickhouse floors are original 1940s timber. The walking portion covers about half a mile with stairs. Free parking on site, including bus and RV pull-throughs.
In 1987, Hugh Blackthorn, a third-generation cooper whose grandfather had barreled whiskey in Speyside before crossing the Atlantic, bought eighty acres of hollow land outside Lynchburg for one reason: the spring. Coldwater Hollow runs year-round at a steady 56 degrees, filtered through Tennessee limestone that strips the iron out and leaves the minerals in. It is, Hugh liked to say, "water that already knows what it wants to be."
He commissioned two copper pot stills from a Louisville metalworks, christened Maggie and Brodie after his grandparents, and ran his first spirit in the spring of 1988. The first barrels of Blackthorn Straight Bourbon weren't sold until 1992. He spent those years coopering his own barrels from new American oak, charred to a No. 4 "alligator" level, and stacking them in a rickhouse he raised from reclaimed 1940s warehouse timber.
Nearly four decades on, his daughter Eileen Blackthorn runs the stills, the mash bills haven't changed, and every drop still passes through Maggie and Brodie. We make less whiskey than we could. That's the point.
Thursday – Sunday: 10am – 5pm
Tours at 11am, 1pm & 3pm
Monday – Wednesday: Closed
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day & New Year's Day.
Ten minutes from the Lynchburg town square, off Highway 55. Free on-site parking, with pull-through spaces for buses and RVs. All three expressions are sold in the barrel house shop whenever we're open.
Phone: (931) 555-0173
Email: visit@blackthornwhiskey.example
Instagram: @blackthorndistilling
We answer the phone Thursday–Sunday, 9am–5pm Central. For private events and barrel picks, ask for Eileen.