Look Who it Was Random video

Commissioners Asked To Back Distillery Measure

152 views · Published 16 November 2012 · 1:46 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2012 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

by John Pless and Alyssa Spirato  Local whiskey producers hope Hamilton County Commissioners will help them amend a state the law so they can make their spirits in the Scenic City.The first step to Chattanooga Whiskey being made in Chattanooga is taken with a lot of support, but not without some opposition. The founders of Chattanooga Whiskey, Joe Ledbetter and Tim Piersant, met with Hamilton County Commissioners this morning to make their case.Ledbetter said in less than a year they have produced and sold 3,000 cases of their whiskey, which is now made in Indiana. He and Piersant want to distill the whiskey here just like more than 30 distilleries did before prohibition a century ago."One hundred years ago, we had thirty plus distilleries. Today we have zero. Look at Jack Daniels down the street, we want to do that. We want to bring whiskey to a great city," says Chattanooga Whiskey Founder, Joe Ledbetter.They want Commissioners to approve a resolution asking Tennessee state lawmakers to put Hamilton County on the list of other counties that were approved for distilleries back in 2009. Hamilton County was excluded from that list because of opposition from the local delegation."I would love to see this type of response to so many other issues that our city, our county, our state and our nation is in dire need of people like you to get engaged," says opponent, Mark West.West cites morals and ethics for his reasoning, and says bringing distilleries to Hamilton County could play a factor in alcohol abuse."Just because you bring a distillery in, it's not like people are going to abuse it more. Obesity is a big problem in the state and in this country. What are we going to do? Close down all the McDonalds?" says supporter Kelley Banks.Ledbetter and Piersant say distilling here will create jobs, tourism and positive attention to the region. They have a building in mind on Chattanooga's south side that could be used for their distillery with a -million renovation."There's no better city, we feel like, in America to do a distillery, or to have a distillery, with the history behind it, the culture that it brings to the community and the community it brings," Ledbetter said.Commissioners will decides next week whether to pass the resolution. If they do it will be up to state legislators to put Hamilton County on the list of other counties now permitted to distill spirits.

More from this channel