Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Spirits could make bourbon, rum in Oak Ridge

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Secret City Spirits

The Secret City Spirits distillery proposed in west Oak Ridge could be the first of its kind in the city, and it could make bourbon and rum, and flavored unaged liquor.

Secret City Spirits would be located at 1990B Oak Ridge Turnpike, next to United Grocery Outlet.

The co-owners are brothers Eric and Nathan Edmonds of Roane County, Tom Price of Knox County, and Michael Schrage of Chattanooga.

The liquor would be aged on the property. The Oak Ridge Board of Zoning Appeals approved a property exception on Tuesday to allow for light manufacturing, aging, and bottling of liquor for eventual distribution at the property.

The owners said they won’t have a storefront for now. Some liquors have to age for two years. But rums can be produced in less time than that and so can flavored unaged liquors. [Read more…]

Morgan voters OK distillery at former Brushy Mountain prison

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Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex

On Tuesday, Morgan County voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of turning the former Brushy Mountain Penitentiary in Petros, pictured above, into a moonshine distillery and tourist attraction. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Department of Correction)

Information from WYSH Radio

On Tuesday, Morgan County voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of turning the former Brushy Mountain Penitentiary into a moonshine distillery and tourist attraction. The measure passed with 2,431 votes to 1,150 votes against.

Chattanooga-based Brushy Mountain Group is leading the effort to build the distillery, which could bring more than 100 new jobs to Morgan County. In addition to producing moonshine at the former prison, the company also intends to open a gift shop, a museum, and horse trails on the property, and would also like to offer tours of the historic prison to the public.

The former Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex is located about 18 northwest of Oak Ridge in Petros. The maximum-security prison first opened in 1896 and closed in June 2009. At 113 years old, it was the oldest operating prison in Tennessee. Its most infamous inmate was James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [Read more…]

Rocky Top theme park proposed in Lake City

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Information from WYSH Radio

A new theme park proposed for Lake City could prove to be an economic boon but before anything can happen, the developer wants the city to change its name.

Proposed is a $20 million project that includes a brewery and distillery, interactive kids’ theater, and an outdoor amphitheater, an indoor/outdoor water park and resort with a restaurant that looks like a shipwreck and seats 700, and a Rocky Top-themed sports museum, as well as a 100-bed lodge and several other attractions.

In addition to the theme park, they also want to change the name of the city to Rocky Top. [Read more…]

Town Hall meeting in Lake City to focus on proposed theme park

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Information from WYSH Radio

There will be a Town Hall meeting in Lake City at 3:30 p.m. today (Thursday), during which attendees will be able to see and hear a presentation from Knoxville Businessman Buddy Warren—owner of several companies including Rocky Top Beer and Rocky Top Moonshine as well as the right to the name “Rocky Top, Tennessee”—to discuss his proposal to build a Rocky Top theme park and relocate his bottling company, brewery, and distillery to the Lake City area.

The proposed park would include a Rocky Top sports museum, a coal miners’ theater for live music, an emporium, a restaurant, a 100-bed lodge, an Interactive 3D theater, an indoor water park, and several other amenities, including a new studio for our sister station Merle FM.

[Read more…]