Knox Whiskey Works

Knox Whiskey Works is downtown Knoxville's first legal distillery — the operation that brought commercial distilling back to a city whose pre-Prohibition whiskey trade had been completely erased for a century. Founded in 2015 by a small group of Knoxville-based whiskey enthusiasts in the city's Old City district at 516 West Jackson Avenue, Knox Whiskey Works occupies a converted commercial space in the historic warehouse district adjacent to downtown Knoxville and Market Square. The distillery's launch represented the first legal commercial distilling operation inside Knoxville city limits since Prohibition shut down the city's original whiskey trade in 1920.

The brand's product identity is built explicitly around East Tennessee regional sourcing. The flagship Old City Heirloom Corn Whiskey is distilled from locally-grown heirloom corn varieties sourced from East Tennessee farms, and the broader product range — now spanning 13 hand-crafted spirits across whiskey, gin, vodka, and rum — leans on local agricultural partnerships throughout the production chain. Heirloom corn matters here because the genetic diversity of pre-industrial corn varieties (most modern bourbon uses commodity yellow corn from large-scale agriculture) produces a different starch-and-sugar profile during fermentation, with differentially expressed flavor compounds in the final spirit.

The product range now covers the Old City Heirloom Corn Whiskey (the flagship — unaged white whiskey distilled from East Tennessee heirloom corn), the Knox Whiskey Works Tennessee Bourbon (charcoal-mellowed per the Tennessee whiskey standard, aged in new charred American oak), a Knox Whiskey Works Single Malt (American single-malt using East Tennessee malted barley), a small range of gin and vodka, and a Knox Whiskey Works Rum program. The Tennessee Whiskey Trail (the state-level distillery tourism program) includes Knox Whiskey Works as Knoxville's primary tour stop.

The Old City visitor experience runs through the working distillery floor — production is visible from the tasting room — and includes structured tasting flights, on-site signature cocktails, and a small retail program. The location is walking distance from downtown Knoxville's bar and restaurant scene, with the Market Square area five minutes away on foot. Knox Whiskey Works pairs naturally with Postmodern Spirits (the city's other craft distillery) and the broader Knoxville food-and-drink weekend for visitors building an East Tennessee craft trip.