Ole Smoky Distillery

Ole Smoky Distillery is the brand that essentially created the modern legal-moonshine category — the first federally licensed distillery to operate in East Tennessee since Prohibition (opening in 2010 after Tennessee's 2009 law change allowing small-batch distilling) and the operation whose Gatlinburg flagship "The Holler" turned a strip-mall stretch of Parkway into one of the most-visited distillery destinations in the United States. Founded in 2010 by attorney Joe Baker — who grew up in Cocke County, Tennessee, the historical heart of East Tennessee moonshining — Ole Smoky was the first commercial operator to legally produce moonshine in a region where home distilling had been the unofficial regional economy for generations.

The flagship location at 903 Parkway in Gatlinburg, branded as "The Holler," sits directly on the main Smoky Mountains tourism strip leading to the entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's an open-air, multi-level facility built to handle the seasonal tourism volume — over 4 million annual visitors at peak years — with live bluegrass programming on a dedicated stage, an extensive retail floor, and sample tastings of essentially the entire moonshine and whiskey range. The original distillery itself remains a working production facility, with the column stills and barrel rooms visible from the visitor floors.

The product range covers traditional unaged white whiskey (Ole Smoky Original White Lightnin' at 100 proof) plus dozens of flavored moonshines (apple pie, peach, salty caramel, blackberry, mango habanero, cookie dough, and the seasonal rotating cohort), the Ole Smoky Bourbon line (entering the aged-whiskey category as the company matures), and the cocktail-ready Tennessee Mountain Java coffee-cream variant. Brand expansion has taken Ole Smoky to multiple locations across Tennessee (Pigeon Forge, Nashville, Newport, plus additional Gatlinburg satellites) and several out-of-state retail and distillery experiences.

The Gatlinburg visitor experience is the highest-volume distillery tour in Tennessee — sometimes the entire country during peak Smoky Mountains tourism season — and the operation is structurally built for accessibility and turnover rather than the slower, more curated tasting model that boutique craft producers favor. For visitors looking to understand the modern legal moonshine category that's grown into a meaningful slice of American craft spirits over the last 15 years, Ole Smoky is the original commercial reference point and still the volume leader of the segment.