There is a bottle coming out of Tennessee this fall that refuses to belong to anyone in particular. It belongs to eleven distilleries at once. And now, thanks to a partnership between proof-it and the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, the Tennessee Collective Tasting Notes Contest is inviting whiskey drinkers to weigh in on what, exactly, is happening inside it.
The 2026 Tennessee Collective American Whiskey arrives September 1, 2026, at participating distillery tasting rooms and online for pre-order. Every bottle carries a proof-it tag on the neck. Tap it with an unlocked smartphone and the bottle starts talking.
Eleven Distilleries, One Blend
The roster reads like a road map of Tennessee spirits: Big Machine Distillery, Gate 11 Distillery, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Leiper’s Fork Distillery, Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, Old Dominick Distillery, Old Glory Distilling Co., Peg Leg Porker Distillery, Short Mountain Distillery, Sugarlands Distilling Co., and Tennessee Legend Distillery.
Collaboration on this scale is rare in an industry built on house secrets and proprietary mash bills. That is rather the point. The Collective is a working argument that Tennessee whiskey is a shared inheritance, not a set of competing claims.
The Tag That Tells the Story
Here is where the technology earns its keep. Each distillery’s allocation of bottles unlocks its own custom video and its own account of what that house contributed to the blend. Same whiskey, eleven different stories, depending on which bottle you happen to pick up.
“proof-it has become an integral partner in the Tennessee Collective, creating an exclusive digital experience that connects consumers more deeply to the bottle, the blend and the distilleries behind it,” said Charity Toombs, Executive Director of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail.
Toombs also noted that the platform has given the Trail a clearer window into who its customers are and what draws them to the Collective — the kind of insight a printed label has never been able to deliver.
How the Tasting Notes Contest Works
The Tennessee Collective Tasting Notes Contest runs through January 7, 2027. There is no entry form to hunt down and no account to create. Tap the proof-it tag, taste the whiskey, and describe what you find in it.
Toffee? Green apple? That particular char that shows up somewhere near the finish? Write it down. The strongest entry wins tickets to the Grain and Grits Festival.
It is a smart bit of reciprocity. The distillers spent years telling consumers what is in the glass. This time, the glass is asking.
Where to Find It
Pre-orders are open now at tnwhiskeytrail.com/tn-collective, with bottles landing in tasting rooms September 1. Launched seven years ago by the Tennessee Distillers Guild, the Trail now spans more than 30 stops statewide — which means the Collective can be collected the slow way, one distillery at a time.