Shortbarrel Bourbon sits in an industrial section of Norcross, about 30 minutes northeast of Atlanta, where founders Ryan Koonce and Chad Morrison turned their shared obsession with bourbon into a craft distillery that opened in 2018. The 4,000-square-foot facility houses custom copper stills and a small tasting room where you can sample their wheated bourbon and rye whiskey while watching the production process through large windows. What started as weekend conversations between two friends about what makes great bourbon has evolved into a serious operation focused on high-wheat mash bills and careful barrel selection. Koonce, who left a corporate finance career, and Morrison, a former mechanical engineer, spent three years planning before firing up their first batch. They partnered with experienced distiller Jake Norris, who brings techniques from Kentucky’s bourbon corridor to their Georgia operation. The duo’s philosophy centers on patience and precision—they’re aging everything a minimum of two years and hand-selecting barrels for each release. The name ‘Shortbarrel’ reflects their commitment to smaller batches rather than mass production, with their custom 500-gallon copper pot still allowing them to maintain tight quality control. The visitor experience feels more like stepping into a working laboratory than a polished tourist destination. You’ll smell the sweet mash cooking and hear the rhythmic bubbling of fermentation tanks during tours, which Morrison or Koonce often lead personally. The tasting room showcases their current releases alongside experimental batches, and they’re surprisingly candid about what works and what doesn’t in their process. It’s the kind of place where you might end up in a 20-minute conversation about barrel char levels or the merits of different yeast strains.