Emilee Drost
Sprawling out over 12,000 square feet on a quiet block of SoBro, 6th & Peabody is quite literally a mashed-up village.
The campus is home to an Ole Smoky Moonshine taproom and a Yee-Haw Brewery, two businesses that were founded by East Tennessee natives Joe and Jessi Baker. There’s also food from the Asheville outfit White Duck Taco, and most exciting for dedicated hot fowl fans, a permanent outpost of a Prince’s Hot Chicken food truck—just steps away from Music City Center.
Emilee Drost
The Bakers launched Ole Smoky Moonshine in Gatlinburg in 2010; it was a second career for the two former attorneys. With deep roots in and around the mountains of Gatlinburg, Joe Baker can trace his family’s moonshining history back several generations and remembers being a teenager when he first watched his father make it.
When the state opened up legislation for more distillery licenses across the state in 2009, Joe knew it was time to go legit. Ole Smoky became one of the first dedicated moonshine-producing labels and still sells its products in jars with minimal labeling. Nine years later, it’s now an internationally recognized brand with 28 flavors and four locations (including the addition of Yee-Haw Brewing Company in 2016) and sees as many as four million visitors each year—a number that will only increase with this bulked-up new Nashville addition.
More than a distillery tasting room, 6th & Peabody is an entertainment complex complete with 21-foot television screens, two stages, multiple outdoor seating areas and lawn games, and of course, a working distillery. (The brewery will be functioning later this fall.)
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Emilee Drost
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Emilee Drost
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Emilee Drost
Reclaimed barn wood and barrel roof trusses mark the spacious interior. In the retail space, you can buy moonshine in just about every flavor, plus t-shirts, phone cases, shot glasses, and more, including copies of Jessi Baker’s newly released book, Shining: Ole Smoky Family Cookbook.
To soak up all of ‘shine, Prince’s Hot Chicken doles out its signature spice levels over white bread with fries and slaw, and at the White Duck Taco stand, you can order loaded-up tacos, like the Korean beef bulgogi with avocado puree and kimchi, a green chile and black bean version, or the Thai peanut chicken.
On Sunday mornings, 6th & Peabody is home to the Gospel Bird Jubilee presented by WSM, where you’ll find The McCrary Sisters crooning out Christian gospel tunes while Prince’s serves up chicken and waffles. Should you so choose, there’s an Ole Smoky White Lightnin’-based Howlin’ Mary served with a moonshine-infused pickle.
While the space feels like it’s geared toward a tourist crowd, there’s plenty for locals to take in, too, especially on game days this fall. Those towering TV screens, combined with ample room to spread out and plenty of drinks on hand, make it an easy spot for rooting on the hometown teams.
6th & Peabody, 423 6thAve. S., 865-436-6995; 6thandpeabody.com