CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A veteran-owned distillery in Clarksville is now one of the newest stops on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail.
Leatherwood Distillery, founded by retired Army Special Forces soldier Andy Lang, recently moved from Pleasant View to Clarksville and has officially joined the trail. B.R. Distilling Company in Memphis is the other new addition.
Lang said the distillery's roots trace back to a deployment in northern Afghanistan.
"One of the trips – we had some down time," Lang said. "It was middle of the winter in northern Afghanistan. You're not going out and doing a whole lot. So we had some time on our hands. And so we had some grain for the animals we had and dedicated to try and make a batch of whiskey out in the middle of nowhere."
Lang retired from the Army in 2017 after 18 years in Special Forces and seven years in the infantry before that. He said the smell of the distillery's barrel storage room still takes him back.
"I can just get the smell and it brings me back to our camp in Afghanistan," Lang said.
Before whiskey, Lang had made beer and wine — but admits he doesn't even like either of them.
"I was making it for my friends, I liked the process," Lang said.
That process led to experimentation and, eventually, a product he was proud of.
"I mean, the first batch of whiskey I made was not that great," Lang said. "But you go through the trial and error process and just did the research and tried different things and came up with what ended up being a great product."
What started as a hobby during deployment became a civilian dream when friends encouraged him to pursue it seriously after retirement.
"I was getting ready to retire and friends were like – hey why don't we try and do this for real? And of course my first reply was like, I don't think you can just get a distillery license. We got it and we filed for all the licenses and raised a little bit of capital to get it off the ground. When I say a little – I mean a little," Lang said.
Now, the recipe born over a fire pit in northern Afghanistan — with improvements along the way — is the driving force behind Leatherwood's place on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Lang said the listing puts Clarksville on the map for whiskey enthusiasts across the region.
"Well, I think what is big about the whiskey trail is – you have people from all over Tennessee, all over Kentucky, basically all over this general region that are going to come here to Clarksville to see Leatherwood Distillery," Lang said.
Leatherwood's location in close proximity to distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail has raised hopes that the new stop will boost the economy in Clarksville and Montgomery County.
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