After leaving the Navy, Tiny eventually turned that experience and a healthy dose of what he likes to call “hillbilly engineering” toward another time-honored Appalachian craft: making good Tennessee corn liquor.
In 2011, East Tennessee Distillery was established in Piney Flats, Tennessee, and Roberson’s Tennessee Mellomoon was born. What started as a small independent operation developed into an award-winning Tennessee spirits brand known for its original sippin’ shine, White Lightnin’ and flavored moonshines.
But the bottles are only part of the story.
Tiny built East Tennessee Distillery around the same personality he brings to everything he does: independent, inventive, hardworking and unmistakably East Tennessee. Visitors to Piney Flats quickly discover that this isn’t a polished corporate operation pretending to have Appalachian roots. Tiny is usually much more interested in showing you how something works, telling you a story, or figuring out how to build something everybody else says can’t be built.
Today, that entrepreneurial spirit continues through East Tennessee Distillery, Tennessee Mellomoon, the Moonshine Depot in Pigeon Forge, and the independent spirits brands produced at the distillery.
Through it all, Tiny has kept things pretty simple:
Make good spirits. Treat people right. And never be afraid of a little hillbilly engineering.
Meet Neil “Tiny” Roberson
From steel and steam to Tennessee shine.
Neil “Tiny” Roberson isn’t your typical distiller and East Tennessee Distillery isn’t your typical distillery.
Before there was Tennessee Mellomoon, Tiny served in the United States Navy as a boiler technician, where he learned his way around steel, steam, machinery and the kind of hands-on problem solving that would serve him well years later.