Limestone Branch Distillery

Founded in May 2011, Limestone Branch is owned by brothers Steve and Paul Beam.

With a family history of distillers, than ran for five generations until the Prohibition was put into place, the Beam brothers decided to bring the family tradition back to life. Using their grandfather Guy's, notebook, the brothers chose some of his recipes and the production of moonshine began again.

Their T. J. Pottinger moonshine is named for Thomas Jefferson “Jeff” Pottinger, the grandson of Captain Samuel Pottinger Sr., who established the first pioneer outpost in 1781 in nearby southern Nelson County. The small fort was called Pottinger’s Station, and Captain Sam built his home not far from Pottinger Station and called it Walnut Hill, where family lore says Captain Sam had a frontier distillery atop a nearby cave.

The early Kentucky Pottinger family flourished, and it was T. J. who moved the Pottinger distillery operations to nearby Gethsemane Station, primarily to get closer to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad tracks for shipping purposes. T. J. operated at Gethsemane as T. J. Pottinger and Company. In 1872 it was being operated by Francis Head and Orene Parker.

In 1883, Minor Case (M.C.) Beam, Steve and Paul’s great-grandfather, bought Parker out, and the distillery operated as Head and Beam. Seventeen years later in 1900, Francis Head sold his interests to Minor Case Beam and the distillery name was changed to M.C. Beam and Company. It produced the T. J. Pottinger and Old Trump brands.