Big River Distilling Company

B.R. Distilling Company — known publicly as Big River Distilling — is the Memphis craft operation responsible for Blue Note Bourbon, one of the most quietly respected sourced-and-blended bourbon brands of the modern American whiskey era. Founded in 2014 by McCauley Williams (President) and Alexander Folk (Director of Operations), with longtime childhood friend JB Blancett joining as Sales Manager, B.R. Distilling occupies a reclaimed industrial warehouse in North Memphis that was originally part of an auxiliary cluster supporting the area's historic Firestone tire factory — the warehouse the founders converted into a distillery had previously been used to manufacture adhesives before sitting abandoned for decades.

The distinguishing characteristic of the operation is the unusually long average age statement on the flagship Blue Note Bourbon. Blue Note is blended in small batches from whiskey that is, on average, at least nine years old — a substantially older average than most craft sourced-bourbon brands, which typically blend from much younger stock to stretch supply and keep prices accessible. The blending approach (Williams and Folk select specific barrels from sourced stock and assemble the small-batch releases by hand) is the operational hinge of the brand, and the consistent older-age commitment has built B.R. Distilling's reputation in Memphis and increasingly across the Southeast as one of the few sourced brands genuinely committed to longer-aged whiskey at accessible price points.

The product range covers Blue Note Juke Joint Bourbon (the flagship — small-batch, 93 proof, blended from 9+ year stock), Blue Note Single Barrel Bourbon (cask-strength single-barrel releases at higher proofs), and Riverset Rye Whiskey (the rye sister-brand, also small-batch and blended). The "Juke Joint" naming references Memphis's historic blues-and-jazz musical heritage, and the brand identity throughout pulls visually from mid-century Memphis musical iconography — particularly the Blue Note Records-aesthetic typography that gives the bottle its distinctive vintage-record-label look.

The North Memphis distillery is officially designated as the oldest licensed distillery in Memphis — a distinction earned in part because the broader Memphis distilling industry collapsed entirely during Prohibition and stayed dark until B.R. Distilling's 2014 opening. The warehouse facility runs occasional public tours and tastings by appointment, with the bulk of the brand's customer-facing experience happening through wholesale distribution rather than on-site retail. For visitors building a Memphis spirits day around Old Dominick downtown, B.R. Distilling's North Memphis location adds the second of the two Memphis craft distilleries that have rebuilt the city's distilling presence over the past decade.