Take a look at the Macon distillery that’s winning ‘prestigious’ worldwide awards

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Living Local, a regular series featuring a look inside local businesses — the things they make, services they provide and their impact on the community.

A downtown Macon distillery is making its name in the spirits industry on a worldwide level.

Longleaf Distilling Co. recently won two Double Gold Medal awards at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

“The San Francisco World Spirits Competition themselves, it’s kind of like the Super Bowl of spirit development and for spirit manufacturers,” said co-owner William Robinson. “There is not a more prestigious event in the world when it comes to a spirits competition - they receive entries from countries all over the world.”

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition had nearly 5,500 spirits competing this year. To receive a Double Gold, a spirit must be unanimously awarded a gold medal by all 70 judges, a feat signifying a near-perfect product.

Robinson said the impressive achievement comes just one year after opening Longleaf Distillery’s doors.

The concept for Longleaf started approximately five years ago with a business plan between longtime friends. Robinson was approached by friend, and now co-owner, David Thompson about his desire to open a distillery.

After looking over all that would be involved, Robinson told his friend the plan would cost an extreme amount of money and time investment.

Thompson replied, “Great, when do we get started?”

The business model became a reality, and Longleaf Distillery opened in April 2023. Robinson said the duo immediately knew they wanted to open the business downtown, surrounded by their community of family and friends.

“We were both very passionate about the revitalization of downtown Macon. We’d been working in it probably close to a decade in a lot of different capacities - he has been in the construction business for quite a while and my wife and I owned an interior design firm and she previously worked for historic Macon,” he said. “So we’ve done a lot of historic renovations in the downtown area and this is just honestly where our community is.”

Robinson explained he has a background in history and archaeology and loves the historical side of spirits.

Robinson said for Longleaf’s award-winning Navy Strength Southland American Gin, he wanted to create a gin that made sense for the geography of Georgia and wanted all the plants used in the gin to grow readily in the state. Georgia has an abundance of wide ranging habitats, from coastal to mountain.

He said the gin is essentially the exact same thing as the standard strength gin, except it has a little less water in it - standard is 43% alcohol by volume and Navy Strength 57% alcohol by volume.

“It’s an interesting segment of the gin category, it’s got a lot of history behind it. The story behind Navy Strength gin is back in, I believe the 1800s, the British Navy found that if they barreled their gin on their ships at 57% abv or higher then sailors could actually spill the gin on their gunpowder and the gunpowder would still fire,” Robinson said. “It sounds like a fantastic joke of a story but it is actually true, it has been documented.”

Robinson said what is also interesting is the Navy would take Navy Strength gin and leave London with it. They’d drink it on their trip, and oftentimes they would end up in the Caribbean. Then they would load their ships in the Caribbean with Navy Strength rum.

“So when you find Navy Strength it is most commonly associated with gin or rum,” he said.

The second gold award came by way of the distillery’s Alba Thistle Liqueur. The Alba is part of Longleaf’s historic series based loosely on an old recipe that Robinson found in an Italian book for distillers.

“After kind of manipulating the recipe to where it was a little more palatable for the 21st century and also removing a few ingredients that you can’t have in spirits these days, it’s turned into a really fantastic spirit,” he said. “Not only is it unique in its flavor profile - I’ve literally never had a spirit that tasted anything like it. But, also after we distill it, we macerate it with a butterfly pea flower which gives it that lovely sort of bluish purple color.”

Robinson said he sent in samples for the competition, but he was only hoping to get some good sampling notes and see what the judges had to say so they could improve their products. He never imagined they would win.

“Winning double gold in San Francisco says that we are producing some of the best spirits in the world right here in Middle Georgia,” he said. “It’s incredible and it is such an honor to hold the banner for Middle Georgia.”

The business has also won awards in the Georgia Trustee Wine and Spirits competition and the American Craft Spirits Association competition.

Currently, Longleaf Distillery offers over 20 in-house spirits, including seven that are out for distribution that patrons can enjoy in the cocktail room.

The business also pledges to plant an endangered longleaf pine for every bottle it sells with an estimated 54,000 trees being planted this year.

“This is the best job I’ve ever had - it’s very fulfilling and it’s nice to be part of the community again,” Robinson said. “One of the things I am enjoying the most about Longleaf right now is being able to reconnect with the people of Macon and put a smile on their face.”