Georgia Trend is the only statewide publication covering our business, politics and economy here in Georgia, so it was a real privilege for us to talk to their reporter Sucheta Rawal last month, and to feature on the site. Georgia Trend has all the buzz on biz!
The article Sucheta wrote hit all the right notes for us – starting with the female leadership in our business, our family’s history in farming, and the special approach we take to bourbon, which is centered around Jimmy Red Corn, plus our new non-GMO Abruzzi Rye. If you want a snapshot of who we are and what we do, Georgia Trend has it for you on the website, and we’ve included the copy below.
We’re so grateful to Sucheta and Georgia Trend for spreading the word. It’s exciting and an honor to feature alongside some great Georgia businesses.
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Georgia’s First Seed to Glass Bourbon
Doc Brown Farm & Distillers
Sucheta Rawal
Thanks to the passion and efforts of one family, we now have a Georgia seed-to-still bourbon distillery with women at its forefront! Doc Brown Farm & Distillers is located in Senoia. Though the co-founders – Paige Dockweiler, Amy Brown, and Amy’s oldest son, Daniel Williams (a commercial pilot by day) – come from a multigeneration of farmers, they never thought about distilling spirits until 2018.
Amy Brown grew up in Hog Mountain (not far from what is now Mall of Georgia), and at one time, her family owned 900 hectares of farmland. Brown went to college and then worked as a mortgage banker in Atlanta for 32 years. After that, she and her partner, Dockweiler (The “Doc” in Doc Brown) ran a pecan farm and event venue in Cordele, GA. But to be closer to her grandkids, Brown bought a farm in Senoia. “Farming was always in my blood,” she says.
One day in 2018, while the family was on their annual beach vacation at the Florida panhandle, they came across an article about Jimmy Red Corn, that up until 20 years ago, had almost died out. A casual conversation about making family bourbon for their own celebrations turned into a commercial investment. Dockweiler had also grown up in a farming family, in South Georgia, and pursued a successful career as a nurse specializing in oncology and hematology. As they researched the heirloom corn, they both got excited about creating a clean spirit while maintaining the ecosystem of the earth.
Jimmy Red Corn is high in protein, sugar (that converts to alcohol), and oil (that gives a creamy buttery flavor profile). “The distiller told us that we were on to something!” Brown exclaims. Doc Brown is now one of the few farms that produce Jimmy Red Corn using old-fashioned hands-on farming techniques like hand pollinating the crop to preserve the variety. The farmworkers distill the corn and non-GMO Abruzzi rye to create unique flavors of bourbon and bourbon creams.
The distillery offers three types of bourbon whiskeys, two of which are named after family members. Since bourbon takes four to six years to mature, the family devised the idea to make bourbon cream with extracts from their bourbon. Since October 2023, they have launched bourbon cream in flavors like coffee (a great dessert on its own), butter pecan (to pay tribute to the pecan farmers of GA), peppermint mocha (that tastes like Andes Mint candy), and salted caramel (with a gentle hint of sea salt). This month, they are releasing a new line of spirits under the label Day Swigger. The first is a butter pecan liqueur made with extracts of Georgia-raised pecans. And soon, they plan to release a special edition hot honey liqueur with the farm’s own honey and southern spice.
You can drink the bourbon cream by itself, cold or at room temperature, or mix it with iced or hot coffee or latte, or hot chocolate. You can substitute heavy cream for bourbon cream to add a special kick to your beverage.
Brown says that she created the flavors that she enjoys drinking herself but also wanted a clean spirit. She adds, “You only need water, grains, a barrel and some patience! There’s no need for added flavoring, coloring, or synesthetic sweeteners to make America’s only native spirit in Georgia.”
Doc Brown products are available for purchase online through its website or through its many distributors.