Hancock County and especially Kiln, MS has long been a hot bed of whiskey production. Father and Son team, James and Matt Crittenden, decided it was time for them to set up their own still in Kiln, MS. Familiar with the romance of making whiskey and the heart break of being caught without a license, Matt leveraged his legal background to make legal whiskey. Paperwork was filed and the Crittendens were legal a year later. Knowing good equipment was necessary to make good whiskey the Crittendens chose equipment made in America and in fact the fermenters were specially made in Kiln. Much of the equipment installation was accomplished with the help of family and friends.

Crittenden Distillery finally began producing whiskey at their new facility in 2017. Crittenden Distillery starts with whole grains, cold deep well water, then we mash, ferment, distill, age and bottle all on site. We don’t take short cuts! We take time to do things the right way! For example, we source our grain from here in Mississippi, then grind grain daily to ensure it is fresh for the best mash possible. We build on a great distillate by using only 53 gallon charred American white oak barrels, no fast or quick aging gimmick here, we let mother nature do its job. We don’t outsource any of our whiskey so what you have in a bottle is a taste of Kiln, MS. Our first product arrived on shelves in 2018 and to honor the history of Kiln we chose to put out our own Kiln Shine. We barrel Rye and Bourbon almost daily, so keep an eye out.

Crittenden Distillery prides itself on quality production and sourcing locally. We love our town, state and county so we capture that in our whiskey, for our customers to enjoy. So, try some Kiln, Mississippi in a bottle or come out and take a tour of our facility, where you can see for yourself how we make our products from grain to bottle under one roof.