Rollins Distillery

Rollins Distillery holds the distinction of being the first legally licensed distillery in the Florida Panhandle, a title it earned after incorporating in 2011 and moving into its Gulf Breeze location in 2012 at 5680 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Unit D-10. The business is a genuine family operation, run day to day by father-and-son team Paul and Patrick Rollins, with Paul’s wife Lamia involved as well.

Paul Rollins came to distilling by way of the Navy. A former Navy pilot with a chemistry background, he later earned an MBA while living in Scotland, where he spent time studying the operations of the Fettercairn Distillery. That firsthand look at a working Scottish distillery reignited a passion for spirits that had gone dormant since his military days. Patrick Rollins, meanwhile, was studying architecture and had developed an interest in home brewing. When he pitched his father on opening a brewery together, Paul countered with a different idea entirely: why not a distillery instead. That single conversation set the family on the path to building Rollins Distillery from the ground up as first-generation distillers, learning the craft largely on their own.

Every spirit the distillery bottles starts with 100% Florida molasses. The core Esprit de Krewe line includes a Cane Vodka along with three rums: Golden Rum, Rock ‘n Rum, and Crystal Rum. Visitors who make it to the tasting room in person can also try the Krewe Exclusive line, sold only on site, which has included releases like the Krewe of Jean Lafitte Gunpowder Proof Rum, a Barrel Finished Rum, a Krewe Legacy Rum, and a Krewe Spiced Rum. The distillery has said it will not release a batch until the team is satisfied it represents the best version of that spirit, a stance that keeps output deliberately small and batch-driven rather than mass produced.

That approach earned early recognition. At the 2016 American Distilling Institute competition, the distillery’s vodka took home a silver medal and its rum won bronze, validating a production process built by two people who had never distilled commercially before opening their doors.

The distillery runs guided tours paired with a tasting, a roughly 90-minute experience that costs $10 per person for the tour and another $10 per person for tasting room samples. Tours walk guests through the family-run production space and the distillation process before finishing in the tasting room, where visitors 21 and older can sample the lineup and buy bottles, including the tasting-room-only Krewe Exclusives, along with glassware and other merchandise. Tours run at noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with an additional 10 a.m. slot added on Saturdays. Groups top out at ten people per tour, so anyone bringing a larger party should email the distillery in advance to arrange something bigger. Well-behaved kids and leashed pets are welcome to tag along even though the tasting itself is strictly for adults with valid ID.

Even the logo carries a bit of family history. The two rams butting heads represent the Rollins family’s dedication, perseverance, and stubborn streak, an image inspired partly by a design disagreement between Paul and Patrick that Lamia joked made the rams an obvious fit for the family crest. Beyond the tasting room, Rollins spirits have also found their way onto shelves and back bars at bars and restaurants around the Pensacola and Emerald Coast area, so travelers who enjoy a pour on this visit have a decent chance of spotting the same bottle again later in the trip.

The tasting room and shop are open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed on Sunday, so weekday travelers headed toward Pensacola Beach or Navarre have a reliable midday window to stop in without needing to plan around a weekend crowd. Because the distillery sits inside a small business park rather than a standalone building, first-time visitors should watch for the unit number, D-10, rather than relying on street visibility alone.