In the heart of downtown Dawsonville is one of North Georgia’s hidden gems: Grandaddy Mimm’s Distillery. 

The family-owned distillery has two locations, with the original location in Blairsville (nicknamed “The Co-Op”) and the second one in Dawsonville (nicknamed “The Garage”). My husband Will and I have gotten the chance to enjoy several of the distillery’s fun events at their Dawsonville location, including most recently one of their music bingo nights. 

Grandaddy Mimm’s hosts music bingo nights regularly, on the first and third Saturday evenings of each month. We hadn’t attended a music bingo event at the distillery before and weren’t quite sure what to expect, but it drew us in immediately as soon as we got there. 

The bartender was incredibly friendly, calling patrons by name as he mixed drinks and poured beer. The music bingo host walked around passing out cards to the assembled patrons, and a sense of camaraderie ensued as we all listened to the songs and worked to identify them and check them off our cards. 

Grandaddy Mimm’s was founded by owner Tommy Townsend and named in honor of his great-grandfather Jack “Mimm” McClure, who was a famous mountain moonshiner. The recipes the distillery serves its patrons are based off of McClure’s own recipes, and the flavors of moonshine and different types of beer on tap are inspired by family traditions. 

We ordered a “Mountain Mama”, which features Wild Cherry Cobbler Moonshine and pineapple juice. The drink is one of many inspired by Townsend’s Granny Sue, who he said everyone knew for her baked goods. The combination of cherry and pineapple was delicious. 

The distillery is also family-friendly and offers mocktail options for younger patrons who are there with their parents. We tried out a “Sober Sangria” mocktail, which featured ginger beer instead of the moonshine the regular sangrias have in them, and we both found it to be a very tasty non-alcoholic pick. 

Throughout the evening we played several rounds of music bingo centered around several different themes, including boy bands, music from movies, one hit wonders and more. The excitement in the room was easy to feel as we all got closer and closer to winning before someone would yell out “bingo” and go up to collect their prize. 

While I didn’t win any of the rounds, Will did! As a prize, he and the other winners all received gift cards to the distillery. 

When we left Grandaddy Mimm’s at the end of bingo, we found ourselves wishing it would have gone on a little bit longer and told the bartender that we’ll definitely be back for the next one in just a couple weeks. 

In addition to music bingo, the distillery also offers regular trivia nights, concerts and other community events, all of which they list on their website. After taking an evening to participate in one of their many different types of events, we can’t wait to try out some of the other ones for ourselves soon.