Rows of Leatherwood Snake Eater Bourbon Whiskey bottles.

Our Story

The story of Leatherwood Distillery starts in the mountains of Afghanistan and is built on service, a lot of perseverance, and a genuine obsession with making fine spirits the right way. On a dare from a buddy, our founder and head distiller, Andy Lang, took whatever he could find, local grains, candy from MREs, animal feed, even stale bread, and transformed it into spirits for his Special Forces team.

Those first batches? They weren't exactly award-winning, but they became the foundation for everything we do today. Our Sweet Feed American Whiskey is actually a refined version of those original desert batches, using those same grains but now has a smooth, polished taste with just a hint of sweetness from the corn.

After more than twenty-five years of service, Andy retired out of Fort Campbell and planted roots right here in middle TN. He’s now joined by partners Joe Maynard and Brian LaFond, both Army veterans with decades of service themselves, and together with our growing team, we’ve turned that grit into a premier destination for authentic spirits.

We’ve definitely had our share of "character-building" moments along the way. Back in 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, we got a 6:00 AM call that our old Pleasant View location was on fire. It was a massive blow, but there was a strange bit of luck involved. A week earlier, we had pivoted to making hand sanitizer for the community, and during the fire, a drum of the sanitizer gel exploded and coated our barrels. That gel acted as a fire retardant and actually saved our inventory. We could have called it quits right then, but that’s just not the Leatherwood way. It took us six months to rebuild, but we did it.

Fast forward to the spring of 2026, and we finally outgrew our beloved spot on Progress Drive. We packed up our equipment and our memories and moved into a brand-new distilling space in the heart of downtown Clarksville, where we proudly distill our spirits today.

Every batch we make starts with premium Kentucky grains and is bottled with a whole lot of pride and attention to detail in Tennessee. From the first pour to the last sip, we’re here to give you quality without compromise, honoring the same values that have guided us from the very beginning.

What Makes Our Whiskey Special

At Leatherwood Distillery, we honor the tradition that defines Tennessee whiskey by using the Lincoln County Process to craft our whiskeys. Before our whiskey ever touches a barrel, it’s slowly filtered through a thick bed of sugar maple charcoal.

This extra step, unique to Tennessee, removes harshness and deepens our whiskey’s smooth, rich character. We source our grains from the fertile fields of Kentucky, then bring it home to Clarksville, Tennessee where our team of veterans turned distillers proudly takes the product from grain to glass.

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