Cascade Hollow Distilling Co

Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. sits in a limestone hollow outside Tullahoma, Tennessee, where George Dickel began making whiskey in 1870 using a spring-fed water source and a process he was convinced could rival the best Scotch on the market. That conviction is why the label still reads "whisky," dropped of its Irish and American "e," a small typographic argument for quality that has outlasted the man who made it.

History & Heritage

George A. Dickel founded Geo. A. Dickel & Co. as a wholesaling firm in the late 1860s and began making whiskey in Cascade Hollow in 1870. The distillery itself traces to 1877, when John F. Brown and F. E. Cunningham established the original Cascade Distillery on the site. Dickel bought a large share of the operation in 1878 and a controlling interest in 1884, folding it fully into his growing whiskey business.

Tennessee prohibition arrived early: a 1910 state law forced the Cascade operation to relocate production to Louisville, Kentucky, and national Prohibition in 1920 shut it down completely. The Dickel name survived on paper through the dry years, and in 1937 Shwab's heirs, who had inherited rights to the Dickel and Cascade brands, sold them to the Schenley Distilling Company. Schenley's Ralph Dupps rebuilt the Cascade Hollow distillery in 1958, after new state legislation made liquor production legal again in Coffee County, Tennessee, returning whiskey-making to the original hollow for the first time in nearly five decades.

Diageo acquired the George Dickel brand in 1987 as part of a larger spirits portfolio, then closed the distillery in 1999 amid a broader industry contraction. Production resumed at Cascade Hollow in 2003, and Diageo has continued to invest in the site since, including naming Nicole Austin general manager and distiller, whose leadership brought a wave of critical attention to the brand. As of July 2026, Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. and the George Dickel brand are owned by Diageo, the same ownership structure the brand has had since 1987.

The Whiskey

Most George Dickel expressions are built on a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley, fermented in open cypress fermenters using a sour mash process that carries back a portion of spent mash for pH consistency. Distillation runs through a combination of copper pot stills and a column still. The exception is George Dickel Rye Whisky, distilled under contract by MGP Ingredients in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, from a 95% rye, 5% malted barley mash, then trucked to Cascade Hollow for charcoal filtering and bottling under the Dickel name.

What sets George Dickel apart is the Lincoln County Process, the charcoal mellowing method shared by Tennessee whiskey producers, executed with a distinctive twist. Before the new make spirit enters the mellowing vats, Dickel chills it to 40°F, a step the distillery calls "chill mellowing" and one it holds out as unique among Tennessee whisky makers. The spirit then filters through 10 to 12 feet of sugar maple charcoal, burned on premises, for several days before going into new charred American white oak barrels. The distillery's barrel warehouses are built just one story high, a deliberate choice that minimizes the temperature variation that comes with stacking barrels several stories tall, and whisky is aged a minimum of five years before it is considered for bottling. Since 1995, every George Dickel product has also been chill filtered after aging to remove calcium picked up during barrel maturation.

The core range runs from George Dickel No. 8 Tennessee Whisky, the 80-proof volume expression, up through George Dickel No. 12 Tennessee Whisky at 90 proof, George Dickel Barrel Select Tennessee Whisky (aged at least nine years), an 8-year-old George Dickel Bourbon, and the experimental Cascade Moon Whisky series. At the top sits George Dickel Single Barrel Aged 15 Years Tennessee Whisky, bottled at cask strength with proof varying by barrel, and George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey Bottled in Bond, which meets the federal Bottled-in-Bond Act's requirements of 100 proof, a single distillery, a single production season, and a minimum four years of aging.

Why It Matters

George Dickel's competition record backs up its reputation among those who appreciate good whiskey. George Dickel No. 12 was named Best Tennessee Whiskey and won a double gold medal at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the same year George Dickel Rye Whisky also took double gold and George Dickel Barrel Select Tennessee Whisky earned a gold designation. George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey Bottled in Bond was named Whisky Advocate's Whisky of the Year in 2019. George Dickel Single Barrel Aged 15 Years Tennessee Whisky won gold at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and an "Excellent, Highly Recommended" 94-point score at the 2021 Ultimate Spirits Challenge, while George Dickel Bourbon earned a double gold at the 2022 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition. George Dickel Barrel Select alone has taken gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition four times, in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2015. Nicole Austin, the distillery's general manager and distiller, was named Artisan Spirit Magazine's first-ever Distiller of the Year in March 2020 and won the Distillery Manager award at the 2021 Icons of Whisky Awards, recognition that has helped keep Cascade Hollow in the conversation among serious Tennessee whiskey producers rather than in the shadow of its larger in-state rival.

Visiting the Distillery

The George Dickel Distillery at 1950 Cascade Hollow Rd in Tullahoma offers tours Monday and Thursday through Saturday from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and Sunday from 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The distillery is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tours cost $25 per person and include a tasting for visitors 21 and older, with designated driver, non-drinker, and minor tickets also available. The tour involves walking and stairs, with roughly a quarter of it taking place outdoors, so dressing for the weather is worth planning ahead. Because the distillery operates Monday through Friday, weekend visitors may not see active distillation in progress.