Hello, Great Beer Now readers! This is the fifth entry in a multi- part series highlighting the Great Beer Now Race to Taste Beer Tour 2018, a trip through Cabarrus County North Carolina that highlighted the best beer and whiskey the area has to offer. Cabarrus County is right outside Charlotte and a short drive from the airport so it’s easy to get to and the beer scene, while relatively young, has so much to offer. Cheers, and have fun following along as I explore!
With the significant growth in small- production, adult beverage businesses, just about any facility seems like fair game for a new brewery, winery, or distillery. In my extensive travels, I have come across breweries housed in former auto repair shops, wineries that took over former feed stores, and distilleries occupying former banks and credit unions. The new occupants often find creative uses for these non- traditional business spaces and the results are often interesting, to say the least. But probably the most unusual use of a former “space” is what I experienced in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, just outside of Concord and Charlotte when I visited Southern Grace Distilleries. Located at 130 Dutch Rd. Mount Pleasant, NC, it’s the only distillery in the United States housed in a former prison.
Doing Time
Southern Grace Distilleries occupies a former correction facility and includes multiple buildings on grounds that cover 20+ acres. The business originally opened in nearby Concord in approx. 2013, but was lured to its new home in 2016. The closed prison was an obvious eyesore, but also had the potential to become the new home for a private business. Southern Grace learned about the opportunity and seized upon it, establishing its whiskey distillery and opening up for tours.
Southern Grace distills corn whiskey and bourbon. They bottle everything by hand and presently distribute to North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut, Oklahoma, and California and also to a few foreign markets.
Meet Me in Solitary
The best way to experience Southern Grace Distilleries is by taking a guided tour. It begins in the chapel where guests view a 15 minute film that covers the background of distilling and how it has impacted the area. From there, guests are escorted across the property from building to building where they get to see and learn about the distillation process, ever mindful of the prison walls, bars, barbed wire fencing, and other barriers that once kept inmates in their proper place.
The tour concludes in the tasting area and gift shop. Guests can sample small shots of Southern Grace whiskies, including Conviction Bourbon, Sun Dog 130 Small Batch, Sun Dog Pink Lemonade, Sun Dog Apple Dumplin’, Sun Dog Habenero, and Zero Dark 130. When I visited, they also has a potent, 130 proof corn whiskey, Un- Aged White Lighting, available for sampling. Southern Grace wants everyone to maintain their vision, so samples are limited in size and quantity.
Ready for Sentencing
Southern Grace Distilleries is a unique and memorable whiskey- producing facility that is like no other in the United States. When I first heard about this distilling operation and its penal ties, I couldn’t wait to visit. I have been to a good number of distilleries in my day, some of them housed in unusual surroundings. But I had never heard of a distillery located in a former prison and since I have never been to a prison, not even for visiting (tsk, tsk!), I knew the experience would be, among many other things, both educational and informative.
Most of the distilling at Southern Grace takes place in a single building- the main building that, once upon a time, was used to house the majority of the prisoners. The different, lettered dorms are clearly marked and yes, the sliding metal bars are still in place. You know that there are no armed guards and the bars will remain open behind you, but it’s a little eerie to wander through these prison cells and you can’t help but think about what it was like inside these confines back when it was operating as a fully- functional prison.
Walking through the different buildings at Southern Grace, I couldn’t help but notice the loud music playing in the distance and I assumed it had to be from someplace outside the facility. But I quickly learned that the high decibels were actually coming from the building in the rear, where the whiskey is aged. I was told that the sound waves and vibrations actually help the booze mature and I did poke my head inside this building, however briefly, to admire the barrels and the precious liquid within. But the loud noise meant I couldn’t stay inside for long, lest my head start pounding and begging for mercy, much like former occupants likely did in decades past.
Having a distillery in a prison is certainly a novelty and the personnel at Southern Grace Distilleries have taken advantage of their surroundings and integrated them into the experience. Once you visit the chapel and watch the recording, you can then grab a small, black board, write down your crime, and pose for a mugshot. There are no orange suits, but it still gets you in the desired frame of mind. You can experience solitary confinement and imagine what it would be like to be locked away all by your lonesome. You can hear the loud, creepy clang of the doors as the bars are pulled shut. You get to witness guards removing heavy padlocks as you are transported from one building to the next. It’s all surreal but also quite fun. And you know that, at least for you and the other guests, there won’t be any hard time, since your visit will end with sips of fine liquor in the tasting room and gift shop before your eventual release.
Bootlegging in America has a storied past and while it is no longer a crime to make booze, the practice was once forbidden by law and resulted in many criminal convictions. The irony of visiting a former prison to sample whiskey makes Southern Grace Distilleries one of a kind in the world of adult beverages and a place that earns my highest recommendation. Conviction never felt or tasted as good as it did here, so pay a visit to Southern Grace Distilleries the next time you’re in the Cabarrus County, North Carolina area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.
My husband loves whiskey! This would be a cool trip idea to surprise him with. Thanks for sharing!
It’s a one of a kind place, that is for certain! I tend to stick with breweries when I travel, but when I heard about the novelty of Southern Grace, I had to add it to my travel list!