Rosedale celebrates new distillery opening with ribbon cutting

Rosedale Distilling Company marked the opening of its restored 130,000-square-foot facility at 1 Perry Martin Road with a ribbon cutting and distillery tours, bringing a long-idle factory back into use in the middle of Rosedale. The grand-opening weekend ran Thursday, June 25 through Sunday, June 28, with the formal ribbon cutting held Saturday, June 27 at 1 p.m.

For Bolivar County and the riverfront business district, the project has been presented as more than a new place to buy a bottle. The Mississippi Development Authority said the distillery represented a nearly $23.15 million investment and would create 57 jobs over five years, while state officials described it as the largest distillery in Mississippi history. The project had been expected to reach production by spring 2025, underscoring how quickly the opening was tied to broader economic-development goals.

The business is also being positioned as a tourism stop. State and chamber materials linked the distillery to the Port of Rosedale and the upgraded Terrene Landing riverboat dock, where officials projected about 40,000 visitors per year from cruise vessels by 2025. Terrene Landing underwent a $2.5 million upgrade to handle tourist riverboat docking, and the distillery’s downtown tasting room at 305 Court Street gives the project a second address in the heart of town, where visitor traffic can spill toward local restaurants and shops.

Rosedale Distilling says the project is the first legal distillery in the history of the Mississippi Delta, and the company has centered the venture on the combined vision of Jack and Elizabeth Coleman. Jack Coleman is a Rosedale native who returned home after a legal career in Washington, D.C., while Elizabeth Coleman has focused on historic preservation and local development. The company says the restored buildings downtown will eventually house tasting rooms, event spaces, a retail store and museums, tying the spirits business to the town’s historic fabric.

The primary distillery operations sit in a former Alabama Metals Product Company building that had been inactive for more than 25 years, turning a dormant industrial site into a working destination. Senator Roger Wicker was listed as a participant in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the weekend drew visitors from beyond Rosedale, a sign that the new business is already pulling attention into town as it tries to turn history, geography and river traffic into a more durable commercial base.