Alex Castle, the master distiller and vice president of Old Dominick Distillery, helped start the distillery from the ground up and bring the importance of craft spirits in Memphis to the forefront. While the interest in craft spirits has grown significantly in the last 10 years, Castle has been pursuing this path since high school, crediting her mom with the initial idea. “I still don’t know why it stood out to me,” she said. "It was one of those rare instances where you set your mind on something and you don’t stray from the path.”  

She started her career with an interest in brewing beer but quickly discovered she preferred the variables and “finesse” present in whiskey distillation. She worked at the Wild Turkey distillery in Kentucky until one day she received a message on LinkedIn asking if she knew anyone that would be interested in starting a local distillery in Memphis. She and her husband discussed it over that weekend and six months later sold their house and moved to Memphis.  

Castle said the hardest part of starting the distillery was adjusting to the smaller budget and lack of access to parts, not the smaller scale. “Whiskey is whiskey,” Castle said. “It’s the same no matter where you are.”  

Her mindset going in was that in the worst-case scenario, the distillery would close and she would have gained experience in a different part of the industry. Instead, the distillery opened in 2017 and has been growing since.  

According to L.E.K. consulting, the craft spirits market has grown by 19% annually since 2015. This allowed many new distilleries, Old Dominick included, to explore unique ideas. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic helped the entire spirits industry grow, with sales just now leveling off to pre-pandemic numbers. “Cocktail and spirit culture changed completely because people suddenly wanted to make cocktails at home,” Castle said.  

As for the future, Old Dominick doubled production earlier this year as well as rebranded their vodka, and gin, and Memphis Toddy whiskey labels. They have also released their Straight Tennessee Whiskey, which is the first Tennessee whiskey to be distilled in Memphis since prohibition. Castle said she feels the brand has become more streamlined. “It feels like we might have finally grown up,” she joked.  

Old Dominick is located on South Front Street and has a tasting room as well as guided tours of the distillery by request.