Thirteenth Colony Distilleries

Thirteenth Colony Distilleries has been distilling in Americus, Georgia since 2009, and holds the distinction of being Georgia's oldest operating distillery since Prohibition. Set in South Georgia's deep-aquifer country, the distillery built its reputation on patience: whiskey aged to taste rather than to a fixed calendar, in a climate that does much of the work for them.

History & Heritage

Thirteenth Colony Distilleries was founded in 2009 by Alton Darby and Kent Cost, launching what would become the state's longest continuously operating distillery since Prohibition ended. The business has stayed close to home in every sense: it is owned and operated, as of July 2026, by the same family and friends who founded it. Alton Darby's son, Maxwell Darby, became President in 2020, carrying the operation into its second generation of family leadership. Co-founder Alton Lee Darby passed away on December 3, 2025, a loss the distillery marked publicly as the end of an era for the founding generation, with the business continuing under Maxwell Darby's leadership.

The Whiskey

Production runs through a custom-designed 250-gallon pot still, and the distillery both distills its own whiskeys and sources specific mash bills when demand requires it, including a wheated bourbon sourced from Wyoming Whiskey for its Sour Mash Bourbon Whiskey. Grains, including corn, barley, and rye, are sourced locally where possible, and spent mash is returned to area ranchers for feed. The water comes from the South's largest, deepest, and oldest aquifer, naturally filtered through limestone and dolomite before it ever reaches the still.

Every barrel is aged on-site in the Americus warehouse, where South Georgia's natural heat cycles and high-temperature swings, combined with an average humidity of 72 percent, push barrel wood through more expansion and contraction than cooler climates allow, accelerating maturation. Master Distiller Graham Arthur tastes every barrel individually and releases spirits when they are ready rather than on a fixed timeline. The Southern Bourbon and Southern Rye Whiskeys are aged a minimum of four years, with finished batches often blending four-, five-, and six-year-old barrels for consistency. Barrels are primarily oak from Kentucky, including custom charred American oak, and the distillery's own proprietary yeast strain qualifies its whiskeys as true sour mash. The Southern Rye draws additional character from a toasted French Oak Spiral Finish, a technique also applied to limited releases like the 113 Bourbon and 113 Rye, both finished with maple wood spirals.

Why It Matters

The results have been recognized well beyond Georgia. Thirteenth Colony Southern Bourbon Whiskey has taken Double Gold, Consumers' Choice, and Grand Gold honors, plus a Silver from USA Spirits Ratings, largely concentrated in 2022 competition wins, and Wine Enthusiast named it a Best Bourbon Under $50. The Double Oaked Bourbon, matured in separate charred oak barrels for added sweet oak character, won Double Platinum at the 2023 Ascot Awards. The Southern Vodka, distilled six times and filtered eleven times, has also taken Platinum honors. The distillery was named Best of Georgia Distillery for four consecutive years running through 2024, a streak that reflects steady, unglamorous consistency rather than a single breakout release.

For The Sentinel Room's Reserve Whiskey Library, Thirteenth Colony represents a distinctly Southern approach to whiskey making: a small, family-run distillery leaning on regional climate and water rather than imitating Kentucky or Tennessee conventions, and proving that a 250-gallon still in South Georgia can compete on the national stage.

Visiting the Distillery

Thirteenth Colony offers several ways to experience the distillery in person at 305 N Dudley Street in Americus. A standard Distillery Tour & Tasting Experience runs $20, and a Guided Tasting Experience runs $15. The most involved option is the "Bottle Your Own" Tour & Tasting, where guests sample cask-strength single barrels of bourbon and rye, then personally fill, cork, and hand-label their own bottle. Tours run Thursday and Friday at 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, and 3:30 PM, and Saturday at 10:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 3:00 PM. The tasting room sells core products alongside distillery-only releases, and every bottle purchased on-site is signed by Master Distiller Graham Arthur.