Beyond Moonshine

Born in the dark hollows of the Appalachian Mountains, America’s distilling heritage bubbled up in the 18th century with the Scots-Irish settlers who brought their knowledge of making grain-based alcohol with them to the new world.

Today, in place of stills hidden from the revenuers in the backwoods, some 2,000 legal craft distilleries across the United States welcome visitors to tour and taste.

Joe Fenten, founder of Dark Corner Distillery in Greenville, South Carolina, sees the micro-distillery trend as a desire “to get back to America’s roots, to a time when products were handmade locally with pride.” Whether it’s nostalgia for the past or a desire to connect to the local food movement—as Greg Beauchamp, a distiller at Mayberry Spirits in Mount Airy, North Carolina, believes—America is clearly intoxicated by craft spirits.

Below is a sampling of small-batch distillers across the Southern Appalachians. Cheers to a high-spirited holiday—no moonshine necessary.

Blue Ridge Distilling

Tim Ferris distilled whiskey and other spirits as a hobby in his garage before opening Blue Ridge Distilling in 2010. At his North Carolina distillery, Ferris crafts his signature single-malt Defiant American Whiskey in a 1,000-liter, custom-made German copper still. “Unlike what they do in Scotland, we use no peat to smoke the barley,” Ferris says, “so Defiant is a uniquely American expression of a single-malt whiskey.” Aging in American white oak accounts for notes of honey, toffee, and caramel, with a smooth finish.

Ferris is in the midst of creating an estate-style distillery by incorporating a former Girl Scout camp nearby. In addition to the 17-acre lake and hiking trails set on what Ferris calls “550 acres of heaven,” Camp Golden Valley will eventually offer an event center, cabins, and an additional tasting room.

Tours and tastings weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; weekends by appointment. 228 Redbud Lane, Bostic, North Carolina. 828.245.2041. defiantwhiskey.com.

Copper Fox Distillery

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Sperryville, Virginia, Copper Fox Distillery was established in 2005. After tasting his way through single-malt whiskeys in Scotland, owner/distiller Rick Wasmund hatched the idea to malt and smoke his own barley. Instead of using peat, as they do in Scotland, he uses apple and cherry wood. His best-seller, Wasmund’s Single Malt Whiskey, is made from 100-percent hand-malted local barley aged in repurposed bourbon barrels to which he adds fruitwood “tea bags.” This novel approach lends additional layers of flavor to the spirit.

Named for his copper still and the animal in Asian folklore that traditionally communicates with spirits, Copper Fox embraces innovation. “I want to be adding something new to the conversation, versus making small batches of what everyone else is doing,” Wasmund says.

Tours and tastings Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m. 9 River Lane, Sperryville, Virginia. 540.987.8554. copperfox.biz.

Dark Corner Distillery

A native of South Carolina’s Dark Corner, a historic haven for moonshiners in the northeast corner of Greenville County, Joe Fenten grew up hearing stories about “white lightning.” So it’s not surprising that he applied his electrical-engineering degree to launching a micro-distillery in Greenville in 2011. Fenten and his team distill spirits over an open flame in an 80-gallon hand-hammered copper pot still that he helped build. Among their aged whiskeys, Louis Redmond is the flagship. Named for a notorious Dark Corner moonshiner, this bourbon whiskey has buttery notes rounded out by nutty red wheat.

Other unusual offerings include absinthe and Jocassee Gin, a new American-style gin incorporating hand-harvested honeysuckle and magnolia. “We are making classical spirits using time-honored techniques passed down from our local ancestors,” Fenten explains. “And as engineers and scientists, we’re putting our own spin on them.”

Tastings Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 14 S. Main St., Greenville, South Carolina. 864.631.1144. darkcornerdistillery.com.

Mayberry Spirits

Adding to the appeal of tiny Mount Airy, North Carolina—aka Mayberry as the birthplace of the late actor Andy Griffith—Mayberry Spirits produces three sorghum-based, gluten-free whiskeys (one is a moonshine). Toasted Oak, aged in oak barrels to which charred oak chips are added to speed up the extraction process, is the quaff preferred by most traditional whiskey lovers. Distiller Greg Beauchamp claims that adding the oak chips yields the depth of flavor of whiskey aged in oak for 18 months in only a matter of weeks. “The Toasted Oak is 100 proof, but sorghum has a smoother finish, making it oaky and sweet,” he says.

Mayberry Spirits also produces pure cooking extracts, and for the Toasted Vanilla whiskey, second-run Madagascar vanilla beans are added before the whiskey is aged, producing a spirit with subtle vanilla on the finish.

Tours and tastings Friday noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5:30pm. 461 N. South St., Mt. Airy, North Carolina. 336.719.6860. mayberryspirits.com.

Smooth Ambler Spirits

Tag Galyean and his son-in-law John Little wanted to start a business that would honor their home in Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia, so they settled on making spirits using local grains and mountain water. Opened in 2010, Smooth Ambler now distributes its products to 33 states and 8 overseas markets. The company makes five in-house spirits—Whitewater Vodka, Greenbrier Gin, Barrel Aged Gin, Legal Hooch (moonshine), and Smooth Ambler Yearling Wheated Bourbon. According to Val Colella, the retail sales manager, Smooth Ambler’s workhorse is Old Scout 7 Year, which she describes as an “exceptionally smooth high-rye bourbon that exhibits deep caramel and pepper notes with aromas of cherry pipe tobacco.” Old Scout is part of the distillery’s Artisan Merchant Bottled line, worthy spirits which they buy elsewhere, hand-bottle on-site, and bring to market in small batches.

Tastings weekdays, 2 to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tours Friday, 2 and 4 p.m.; Saturday, noon and 2 p.m. 745 Industrial Park Rd., Maxwelton, West Virginia. 304.497.3123. smoothambler.com.