Hope Springs Distillery

A small craft distillery producing distilled spirits made from all-natural agricultural products, based in the Old Town area of Lilburn, Georgia, just east of Atlanta. Production is hand-made in small batches across three principal categories: vodka, absinthe and gin. The vodka line is sold as Top Hat Vodka, made from 100% wheat and triple distilled for a clean, smooth profile and positioned as an elegant, approachable spirit. Illusion Absinthe is described as the only absinthe produced in the state of Georgia and the first, distilled with eight herbs including wormwood, made with all-natural inputs and never chill filtered, which preserves the botanical character of the distillate. Garner Creek Gin is an American dry gin built on a juniper-forward backbone with floral and citrus notes on the finish and the same clean, smooth house character. The business was founded by Paul Allen and Betsey Dahlberg, who both grew up in small towns and in family businesses; his father ran an auto shop in rural upstate New York and her family home was Hope Springs Farm in Stone Mountain, Georgia, which supplies the distillery's name. After long careers working for others, the founders moved into distillation on the back of roughly twenty years of experience brewing beer, wine and mead, choosing to launch the venture at a point when they were expected to retire. The operation includes a consumer-facing tasting room at the Lilburn site, though at the time of writing the site notes that health issues have restricted tasting room access to prior arrangement only and that the distillery would not take part in a local event; the business itself continues to present and sell its three spirits. Small-batch, hands-on production and a local Georgia identity, including participation in Old Town Lilburn community events, are the principal differentiators, alongside the claim of the state's only absinthe. Geographic reach shown on the site is regional, centered on metropolitan Atlanta and the state of Georgia.