Way Open For Sazerac To Distill In Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro’s city council voted on February 22nd to adjust local zoning and allow Sazerac to establish a distillery there. The vote was unanimous, overruling some local residents who voiced concerns that the distillery would stain their homes with “whiskey fungus.”

This zoning change opens the way for Sazerac to either build an entirely new establishment or move what had been the Popcorn Sutton Distillery to a new location that would probably be more friendly to employees and definitely more approachable for tourists. Sazerac bought the failing Popcorn Sutton, located in Newport, Tennessee, in December 2016. The distillery, named for the famous moonshiner, was known to have a modern, substantial and quite expensive set of equipment, which Sazerac was able to pick up at bargain-basement prices. However, Newport is a less than desirable location, especially from a tourist point of view.

The former Popcorn Sutton is now a distillery-with-no-name, making Tennessee Whiskey under the stewardship of ex-George Dickel distillers John Lunn and Alissa Henley. Sazerac has never confirmed that they were moving the Newport establishment to Murfreesboro, although rumors have pointed in that direction ever since the owners of Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792 first expressed interest in the Murfreesboro site.