About
Atlanta's second legally licensed distillery since Prohibition, producing the first single malt whiskey distilled in Atlanta. Founded 2011 by Jim Chasteen and Charlie Thompson. Operates in 6,500 sq ft of retrofitted industrial space in Armour Yard. Uses Vendome copper pot stills (500-gallon wash, 300-gallon spirit). Duality Double Malt won Georgia's first Double Gold at SFWSC 2018. Also produces Resurgens Rye (100% malted rye) and Fiddler sourced-and-finished whiskeys.
Production Details
The ASW Distillery Tale
In the heart of Atlanta, where the New South rises from red clay and ambition, two friends stood in a cavernous industrial space in 2011 and saw possibility where others saw rust. Jim Chasteen and Charlie Thompson weren't chasing bourbon's well-worn path through Kentucky bluegrass—they were writing Georgia's whisky story from scratch.
The 6,500 square feet of retrofitted warehouse in Armour Yard tells its own tale of transformation. Once part of Atlanta's industrial backbone, these walls now house Georgia's resurrection spirit. When Chasteen and Thompson fired up their Vendome copper pot stills for the first time, they weren't just making whisky—they were making history. Their 500-gallon wash still and 300-gallon spirit still would birth Atlanta's first single malt whiskey since Prohibition's long shadow finally lifted.
The copper gleams like Georgia peaches in the industrial light, those Vendome stills chosen not for flash but for the honest work they'd perform. Every drop that flows from the spirit still carries the weight of being second—Atlanta's second legally licensed distillery since the dry years ended, but first in ambition to prove Georgia grain could sing.
Their Duality Double Malt speaks to the complexity these two founders embraced, earning Georgia its first Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018. But ASW's vision stretches beyond single malt. Their Resurgens Rye, crafted from 100% malted rye, nods to the city that rose from ashes with a grain that demands respect for its fire. The Fiddler series shows their understanding that American whisky-making honors both tradition and innovation—sourcing and finishing spirits with the same care they bring to their own distillation.
In this corner of the South, where Sherman once marched and skyscrapers now climb, ASW proves that American whisky's frontier isn't just geographic—it's creative. Each barrel aging in their rickhouse carries Atlanta's humid summers and mild winters into liquid form, creating something distinctly Georgian.
The stills run steady now, their copper surfaces burnished by years of faithful service, transforming grain into stories that taste like the New South's endless possibility.