Whiskey at Gate 11 Distillery

Unlike many craft distilleries on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, Gate 11 Distillery was not built as a whiskey distillery. Gate 11 was built as a multi-product craft distillery and when asked about whiskey production, we have tended to describe ourselves as “whiskey-capable”.  This capability has enabled us to produce some very fine bourbon, rye and single malt whiskeys in limited quantities and we currently are aging our first barrel of Tennessee Whiskey.

Five years in however, we recognize that we need to make some changes to more effectively address the demand for whiskeys made in Tennessee. We have barely made enough whiskey to keep up with demand at our cocktail bar and bottle shop leaving us with nothing to offer many of our market accounts that have been asking for more whiskey.

Last year it hit us - we need to make more whiskey and actually quite a bit more. To address these needs, Gate 11 has been installing new equipment and modifying its production processes to increase whiskey production.

These changes include installation of:  a new mash/cook cover to increase starch conversions on our cook process; upgraded fermentation and pot still agitation; increasing the pot still column size from 6” to 10”; installation of an improved steam condensate return system; upgraded bottling capacity as well as new spaces on-site for storage of grains and other materials.

We have been greatly aided in this process by the support of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture in the form of an Ag Enterprise Grant and by the sponsorship from our primary grain provider,  Batey Farms in Rutherford County and Lewis Farms on Flattop Mountain - our off-take for spent grains.  

How will we use this new whiskey capacity? Gate 11 intends to move forward with increased bourbon and rye whiskey production on a much larger scale than before. We may make some small tweaks to our mash bills but these whiskeys will be very similar to our current Larkin Bridges Straight Bourbon and Thomas Young Dark Rye Whiskey. We also plan to continue making our Ross + McClatchey Single Malt Whiskey although here we plan to move to a process that conforms with the new identity standards for American Single Malt Whiskey.  

We are excited about expanding whiskey production at Gate 11 Distillery and are eager to put the unique barrel-aging capability of our boxcar barrelhouse to work on many more barrels. While we will continue to produce award-winning spirits of all sorts, we want Gate 11 to join its Tennessee Whiskey Trail partners as a notable Whiskey Distillery