New Macon distillery plans to revive spirits, restore ecosystem

Longleaf Distillery, the first craft distillery in Macon's history, has opened its doors with a dual mission to revive old spirit recipes and help restore the lost ecosystem of longleaf pine forests across Middle and South Georgia.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Longleaf Distillery, the first craft distillery in Macon’s history, has opened its doors with a dual mission to revive old spirit recipes and help restore the lost ecosystem of longleaf pine forests across Middle and South Georgia.

Owner Will Morrison aims to showcase the distillery’s products throughout Middle Georgia and collaborate with Piedmont Brewery and Fall Line Brewery to create a single malt whiskey.

“This is our home, and this is our community,” Morrison said. “When we got started with this, that was one of the very first things that we knew that we wanted, is to be in our community, in downtown Macon.”

The distillery, located on 2nd Street, aims to fill a unique niche in Macon while also pursuing an ecological goal. For every bottle purchased, Longleaf will plant one tree, with a goal of planting 85,000 trees.

“We’ve been working on this for about four and a half years now,” Morrison said. “It’s honestly nice to finally see the rubber hit the road and to actually get some movement, get people in here and start interacting with our community.”

Longleaf Distillery is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 12 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12 to 6 p.m. on Sunday.