Full Throttle Distillery launches in Branson

A roughly 18-month renovation project of a former flea market in downtown Branson wrapped up early this year with the opening of Full Throttle Distillery at 116 E. Main St.

Officials with the company, which has four other Full Throttle locations in three states, said the Branson venture – its first in Missouri – is a restaurant, full-service bar, cafe, retail experience and live music venue all under one roof.

“We’re really checking off a lot of boxes,” said David Greenberg, head of operations for the Tennessee-based company he co-owns with Michael Ballard and Todd Phillips.

In 2000, Ballard opened Full Throttle Saloon near Sturgis, South Dakota, which claims to be the world’s largest biker bar and was the focus of a reality television show on TruTV from 2009-15. While the saloon is known for hosting large celebrations during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Greenberg said the roughly 9,000-square-foot space in Branson will be a notable departure from its other locations. The business is registered as Full Throttle Distillery Branson LLC.

“We view this in a completely different fashion than we do the other distilleries we have. Technically, this is our fifth distillery, but this is our first distillery that is built on a footprint that we feel like we can move across the country with,” Greenberg said. “We specifically chose Branson. It was purposeful and it was intentional, and I think we’re going to hit a home run there.”

Branson appeal
The company’s other Full Throttle locations are in Deadwood, South Dakota, Trimble, Tennessee, and Estes Park, Colorado.

“They’re not entirely dissimilar to Branson. They’re tourist towns with certain attractions,” Greenberg said of Estes Park and Deadwood, noting the former sits at the foothills of Rocky Mountain National Park. “We’re excited and enthusiastic when bikers come but Full Throttle Distillery is not Full Throttle Saloon like Sturgis. Full Throttle Distillery is its own entity.”

One key appeal of Branson for Full Throttle was its visitation numbers, Greenberg said. While the total visitors dipped 2.3% to 10 million in 2024 from a year prior, the amount was still the third-most in its history, according to Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce & Convention and Visitors Bureau data.

“What we really appreciated about Branson was the sense of community that we saw there and how strong the local market was from Springfield all the way down into Arkansas,” he said. “We saw a vibrant Branson market.”

Co-owner Ballard, who resides in Tennessee, has brought his two daughters – now ages 10 and 8 – to Branson since they were babies, which Greenberg said deepened ownership attraction to expanding there. The building’s proximity to Branson Landing was another plus, he said.

“We view ourselves as a bridge between the Landing and old town Branson,” he said. “We feel like we fill a certain niche there.”

Local resident Stephen Hastings leads the nearly 50-employee staff as general manager of the Branson operation, which held a Jan. 26 soft opening. Officials say it is the first Full Throttle location to offer breakfast. The breakfast menu includes omelets, griddlecakes and French toast, while barbecue, burgers, sandwiches and seafood are among lunch and dinner options.

On the retail side, which comprises around half of the building’s space, Full Throttle sells its own line of moonshine, whiskey, vodka and cream liqueurs, as well as branded clothes and other souvenirs, such as jams, jellies and sauces. The retail section also includes a pair of tasting bars for its various spirits.

“We have 15 different flavors of moonshine, such as apple pie, margarita,” Hastings said. “We have five different sipping creams, and then we have five of our flavored whiskeys.”

While distillery is in the name of the Branson operation, the activity itself isn’t taking place in the building, Greenberg said.

“We have barrel houses in Trimble, Tennessee on (Michael Ballard’s) property, and then the grain neutral spirits that we use for the moonshine and for the whiskey, all of that is distilled in Trimble,” he said. “The distillation process happens there, but the flavoring, the finishing, the bottling, that happens on site here in Branson.”

The company operates its Branson bottling operation in a roughly 2,000-square-foot building at 111 E. Atlantic St. The bottling facility, which Greenberg said once housed a fuel station, is about a two-minute walk from Full Throttle.

With over two decades of experience in the food service industry, including six years at Colton’s Steak House & Grill in Harrison, Arkansas, Hastings said he most recently was a general manager at one of the Big Whiskey’s eateries in Springfield.

“Full Throttle came knocking. I couldn’t say no to this opportunity,” he said. “It’s a national brand that has potential to grow to unbelievable heights.”

Building activity
Full Throttle officials declined to disclose annual revenues or startup costs for the Branson location. Greenberg said the company closed on the Main Street property in June 2023 after purchasing it from Cadwell’s Flea Market owners Kenny and Beth Burgess. Renovation work started soon after with HCW Development LLC serving as general contractor and H Design Group LLC as architect.

“We really wanted to retain and maintain a lot of the original character and structure because underneath just years of paint and plaster was a really good-looking building,” he said, adding the structure was built in 1946. “We probably spent an extra three to five months on the buildout reinforcing every truss with steel.”

While the renovation took longer than expected, officials say they’re glad to be open for business, particularly just as tourists start to return to Branson in greater numbers as the weather warms up.

Hastings said Full Throttle had its first musical act perform Feb. 22 – the first of many planned for the venue this year.

“We look to jump on the live music very big. We have tons of bands booked throughout the year until September,” he said, noting plans are to provide music shows Wednesday-Sunday.