The Ole Smoky family was among the first to settle in the Smoky Mountains over 100 years ago. In 2009, Tennessee law changed, and it was finally legal to make, distill and sell moonshine. Based in Gatlinburg, Ole Smoky was the first federally licensed distillery in the history of East Tennessee, and it opened on 4 July 2010. This site houses two copper stills while a second distillery, dubbed The Barn, opened in late 2014 in Pigeon Forge. This second site was created for visitors who couldn’t make it “up the hill”. In January 2016, Ole Smoky introduced a whiskey line to its spirits portfolio when it merged with another family-owned Tennessee whiskey.