Owners of the Chattanooga Whiskey Company said they plan to open a distillery in the former Turnbull Cone Baking building at 14th and Fort Streets.
Joe Ledbetter and Tim Piersant said they have entered into a tentative agreement with Chestnut Street Properties LLC, pending a bill passing that is currently moving through the Tennessee legislation to allow the local production of Chattanooga Whiskey.
Mr. Ledbetter said, "Several months ago we partnered with Artech Design Group for the build out of our new distillery and headquarters.
The building, located in Chattanooga’s Southside at Fort and 14th, is on the National Register of Historic Places as the original site of the Turnbull Cone Machine Company in 1910. The 30,000 square foot building has an original clear story allowing for two roof top patios, to be used in conjunction with the distillery's 5000 square foot top floor event space.
"The first floor plans will include the tour entrance, local historical artifacts, whiskey glasses, and interesting documents from Chattanooga’s pre-prohibition distilling days, as well as a bottle shop for tourists to purchase commemorative Chattanooga Whiskey bottles, memorabilia and Chattanooga Whiskey apparel. From the first floor, visitors will view the 2,000-gallon Vendome copper still that we affectionately referred to as Big Bertha. Big Bertha will rise 16 feet from the underground production area through the tourist viewing area on the first floor. The underground production area will include distilling, barrel filling, proofing, an extensive bottling line, and careful packaging of Chattanooga Whiskey for timely shipment.
"The second and third floors of the Historic building will serve as to store and age approximately one thousand standard vintage style 53 gallon barrels. Plans include the fourth floor of the Chattanooga Whiskey location to be the last stop on the tour where visitors will be able to sample a selection of whiskeys made at the distillery. The fourth floor space offers a wonderful panoramic view of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, which will be used as an event space for corporate gatherings, private events, receptions, and the occasional Chattanooga Whiskey Presents Music Series."