Stephen Callahan

Tennessee Hills Distillery

Stephen Callahan’s story is rooted in Washington County, Tennessee, and in a partnership with his high school sweetheart and now wife, Jessica Curtis Callahan. Both are East Tennessee natives who later both attended and earned science degrees at Emory & Henry College. The decision to forgo predictable careers for the risk of building a distillery anchors the arc of their spirits business. Callahan is, after all, a third-generation distiller who inherited knowledge of the craft, then layered on with his formal science training. That mixture of heritage methods and lab sensibility shows up in the way the brand speaks about mash bills, proof targets, and finishing.

After college, Stephen and Jessica began pursuing a shared plan to return home and build a distillery in Tennessee’s oldest town, Jonesborough. In 2014, they purchased the Civil War–era Salt House downtown, in a warehouse that once stored precious salt near the East Tennessee rail line. They renovated the building for two years, doing much of the work themselves, and it was there that the couple opened Tennessee Hills Distillery in 2016. Stephen and Jessica, both of whom are in their late 30s as of 2025, frame Tennessee Hills as a “heritage + innovation” shop: traditional techniques married to process discipline.

Tennessee Hills’ gorgeous Bristol facility sits at the exact geographic convergence point of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail and the International Whiskey Trail.

The  Callahan’s whiskey program has steadily grown from Jonesborough out across the region. In July 2021, Tennessee Hills added their “brewstillery” in Johnson City, expanding production space and visitor experiences while keeping Jonesborough as the brand’s historic home base. In 2024, the distillery joined the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, cementing its place among the state’s most distinct whiskey makers, then capped the year by cutting the ribbon on a 39,000-square-foot facility in Bristol over Thanksgiving weekend. As for the whiskey, Tennessee Hills leads with a set of bourbons and a rye, each defined clearly enough on the brand’s site to sketch their house profile: Green Label Straight Bourbon (90 proof): billed as Washington County’s very first bourbon; Fifty-One Bourbon: at 102 proof, effectively Green Label turned up in intensity; Black Label Cask Strength: limited releases, all at 100+ proof; Madeira-Finished Bourbon: Green Label bourbon finished ~6½ months in Madeira casks; and Rye Whiskey: a classic high-rye profile, peppery, with caramel and honey balancing the spice

As for the Callahans’ growth strategy, it has been as much about place as product. The original Salt House tasting room keeps the story anchored in tiny Jonesborough’s downtown fabric, while the Johnson City brewstillery added production headroom and drew beer and whiskey crowds into one campus. But it is the new Bristol facility, equipped with automated systems, a bottling and canning line, and visitor spaces, that has positioned the company for greater Tennessee whiskey production and distribution. Tennessee Hills also currently utilizes upwards of 150,000 pounds of grain per week, all of it sourced in Tennessee from a single farmer. Callahan says that having grown up on a Northeast Tennessee cattle ranch, sustainability and supporting local farmers is especially important to him. He also plays his part in civic responsibility, having served four years as an alderman in Jonesborough, and is on the board of trustees at his alma mater, Emory & Henry University. Callahan also helped establish a Brewing and Distillation Studies Minor at East Tennessee State University, which he hopes to help make into a major program in the future.

In just a few short years, Stephen Callahan has built more than a brand, he has built an East Tennessee whiskey movement rooted in pride, transparency, and homegrown innovation. From the modest stills that first fired in Jonesborough to the gleaming new experiential distillery where visitors now raise glasses and snap photos, his vision remains unwavering: to elevate Tennessee whiskey to the prestige long held by its cousin to the North. Alongside his wife, his partner in both science and spirit, Callahan continues to invest in his community, nurture local college students, and show that the best whiskey stories are those that begin—and stay—at home.

Sources:

  1. Tennessee Hills Distillery/about us, www.tennesseehills.com

  2. WCYB-TV,  “Tennessee Hills joins the Tennessee Whiskey Trail,” February 22, 2024

  3. WCYB-TV, “Johnson City brewstillery opening,”  July 21, 2021

  4. WCYB-TV, “Bristol expansion preview…”, December 27, 2024

  5. The Business Journal of Tri-Cities, “Tennessee Hills Distillery elevates region”, A.J. Kaufman, January 9, 2025

  6. Emory & Henry University, “Young Alumni of the Year (2022)”

Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee