STATESVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina’s first distillery after Prohibition launched 18 years ago. 

Now, the state is home to at least 80 distilleries producing gin, whiskey, rum, vodka and moonshine. 

What You Need To Know

  • North Carolina distilling went from 1 to 80 distilleries in 15 years

  • Southern Distilling Co. in Statesville opened in 2016

  • Southern Distilling's co-owner said changes to policies involving distilleries have helped the growth

Pete and Vienna Barger opened Southern Distilling Co. in Statesville in 2016. 

“This is the American dream to have and operate a family business and to be able to build a team of people who appreciate and want to be a part of that, to be in a community that wants to be a part of that. We are super proud, but we are not proud for us, we are proud for the entire community and team of people that makes this possible,” Pete Barger said. 

Barger is a Statesville native with a mechanical engineering degree.

“We had the great opportunity to build my own plant,” he said. 

He added the access to interstates and rich agriculture drew them to open their business in this area. 

“Between 85 to 90% of our grain is actually grown within 15 miles of our facility here,” Barger said. 

He says the plant has grown due to demand. 

“Bourbon is moving back to the prominence that it had in, let’s say, the '80s,” he said. 

The number of distilleries in North Carolina is on the rise. In 2005, Piedmont Distillers in Madison County opened the state’s first distillery after Prohibition. In 2020, there were at least 80 distilleries. 

“We’ve worked closely with our state legislators as well as folks at the ABC Commission to really craft policies and a regulatory environment that allow more craft distilleries to be successful,” Barger said. 

Barger was the president of the Distillers Association of North Carolina from 2018 to 2020. 

In 2019, he advocated for a law that now allows distilleries to sell unlimited bottles to go and serve spirits and mixed drinks by the glass. 

“The same sort of experience you would get in a winery or a brewery, we are now able to offer,” Barger said. 

He is planning for more success in 2023, opening a second distillery.

“It will take us to 80,000 barrels a year,” Barger said. 

The second distillery will be in Statesville, which was nicknamed the liquor capital of the world in the 1800s. 

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, American whiskey is making a comeback and is listed as the third spirit in terms of volume and revenue in the country.