Sugarlands Distilling Company

Sugarlands Distilling Company is the Gatlinburg, Tennessee operation that turned the Appalachian moonshine tradition into one of the most-visited distilleries in the country — and the brand that defined what "modern moonshine" means as a commercial category to most American consumers who walked into a Smoky Mountains tourism shop in the last decade. Founded in 2014 in downtown Gatlinburg at 805 Parkway, Sugarlands occupies a purpose-built distillery and visitor center on the main tourism strip immediately adjacent to the entrance of Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited national park in the United States with over 12 million annual visitors.

The location is strategic. Gatlinburg, Tennessee sits in Sevier County, and the surrounding mountains have been one of the most active centers of Appalachian moonshine production for generations — first as illegal home distillation through Prohibition and the decades after, then as legal craft moonshine production starting in the late 2000s when Tennessee legalized small-batch distilling. Sugarlands launched into this regional tradition with an explicit identity tying the brand to the broader Smoky Mountains heritage: the visitor center includes a small museum on Appalachian moonshining, the product line carries names tied to historic regional moonshiners (the Mark and Digger series honoring two well-known Discovery Channel "Moonshiners" cast members from the region), and the on-site programming includes live music, storytelling, and education on the Prohibition-era history.

The product range is broad and tourism-friendly. The Sugarlands Shine line covers traditional unaged white whiskey (140 proof Sugarlands Original) plus a dozen-plus flavored variants (apple pie, blueberry muffin, peanut butter and jelly, root beer, peppermint, and seasonally rotating editions). The Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey line is the aged-whiskey program that has built the brand's credibility with serious whiskey drinkers — a 100-proof rye that's won San Francisco World Spirits Competition double-gold and Wine Enthusiast 95+ scores in multiple releases.

The Gatlinburg visitor experience is one of the most-trafficked distillery stops in the United States. The 805 Parkway facility runs all day, every day during peak tourism season, with tours, tastings, an extensive retail program, and live music programming on the main floor. The on-site Back Porch concert venue hosts regular performances by regional bluegrass and country artists. For visitors building a Great Smoky Mountains vacation around the Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg corridor, Sugarlands is the most accessible craft-spirits stop in the immediate area, with the Ole Smoky Distillery (the older Gatlinburg-area moonshine brand) operating in the same general corridor.