SOUTHERN DISTILLING COMPANY
By Xander Evans
Whiskey, in many ways, is at the center of the synergy between nature and science; two words that in our modern times, can find themselves diametrically opposed. Much the same as the terms craft and industrial production, these words are often placed in contrast, if not in complete conflict with one another, but whiskey proves that doesn’t have to be the case. If you took a snapshot of Southern Distilling Company, you’d find it to be one of the most technologically-advanced, forward-facing distilling operations in the United States. This can partially be explained by an approach to distilling that prioritizes data, precision, and automation; or, in other words, science. It becomes clear which lever to pull when the whiskey mash demands refinement, or which knob to turn when a contract partner seeks a subtle change in their flavor profile. So how does one arrive at such an innovative enterprise? For Southern Distilling Company, it may surprise you, but the story starts on a farm.
Becoming a person of industry and innovation was inevitable for Pete Barger, one of the masterminds behind Southern Distilling Company, along with his wife, Vienna. Growing up on his family’s farm, Barger didn’t have to wait long to earn his dinner each and every day: “When you grow up in that environment, you learn to be very self-sufficient and how stuff works. You’re driving tractors as soon as you can reach the pedals, and if you break stuff, you learn how to fix it.” Such an upbringing set the stage for a degree in engineering (despite a brief fixation with finance) and eventual first career within the industrial construction space.
Pete met Vienna, whom he refers to as the “glue that keeps it all together,” while still in college on October 22nd, 1989, where else but at a Grateful Dead concert in Charlotte, NC. “She was supposed to be in school at UCLA. I was supposed to be in school at UNC and instead we were at a 2-day Dead show. She just happened to park right beside me and we’ve pretty much been together ever since then.” Barger says with a smile.
After school, Barger began working within construction, tasked with modernizing companies’ technological approaches. He reflects, “...we were literally taking companies from using technology from the nineteenth century, skipping the twentieth century, and moving all the way up to the twenty-first century.” For Barger, this was a great job, one that itched his engineering nerve, but at the end of the day, he wanted to be his own boss. With a masters in both public health and social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vienna went on to manage the statewide prenatal case management program for the NC Division of Public Health. Barger tells us, “It was important work, but she was ready for a career change.”
“We both had that entrepreneurial bug...we weren’t exactly sure what we wanted to do, but we knew we wanted it to be ag[riculture]-based.”
Here they found themselves, Pete and Vienna, bursting with entrepreneurial ambitions but lacking a direction for how to actualize or place them. The Bargers’ first crack at a family company was researching to build a winery and vineyard. This wasn’t meant to be, but it showed them an attractive truth of the beverage alcohol industry: “it’s highly scalable.” They also recognized a pattern among craft beverage companies: they were not only monetarily significant businesses, but culturally significant businesses. Barger mentioned Sierra Nevada as a particularly influential brand on his interest in the industry. As it turns out, this is a pivotal point in Southern Distilling Company’s story: honoring and articulating North Carolina’s little-known yet colorful distilling history.
When you think of whiskey distilling, the first states that pop to mind may be Maryland, Pennsylvania, or New York, but rarely is North Carolina in that number. Barger explains that perhaps it should be, though, given its storied history. In the mid-late 1800s, North Carolina saw a major distillation effort as evidenced by the 453 distilling licenses issued in the small area of Statesville, NC. All of the necessary ingredients were in place for this to occur: water, grain, and, last but not least, transportation. Native American trade routes, an artifact of the French/Indian War, gave way to the rail system, which gave way to the interstate system; Statesville stood at the heart of it every step of the way. It wasn’t always good news, though; North Carolina was one of the first states to be targeted by Prohibition, years before the rest of the country, via the Watts Bill of 1903. This legislation sought to drive liquor out of unsupervised, rural communities. In its wake, the aforementioned 450+ distilling licenses distributed to farms throughout the area left swaths of families unemployed and without a reliable source of income.
Newly struck by the first wave of Prohibition, did these families lie down and accept their fate meekly? Of course not! Enter bootlegging, the now-illegal distilling operations that flourished in these rural communities in North Carolina and eventually beyond. Bootlegging became so embedded in the fabric of North Carolinian society that it even helped build the foundation for what would become NASCAR: “Junior Johnson, before he worked with the France family...was a bootlegger! More specifically, he was a transporter...The early list of NASCAR legends like Bill Blair started racing because they were running from the cops.”
“Hard to build a brand if you don’t have access to the market.”
Armed with a new vision and knowledge of the state’s illustrious and somewhat infamous history, the Bargers’ founded Southern Distilling Company in 2013. Pete kept his day job while Vienna left her state job to build out the company. Barger notes,“her background in state government and understanding how bureaucracy works, we are in a very highly regulated system, she really understands that regulatory environment and was able to work within that environment to help us succeed.” Even still, it wasn’t easy. Pete wanted to design a much larger and more sophisticated distillery than the “craft” operations that were starting to pop up around the country. He wanted to use Vendome column stills instead of small pot stills. He explains, “I’m an engineer. I’m all about going big. Go big or go home.” On top of the time it took to design and engineer such a distillery, there were legislative obstacles as well. If you look back even just a decade, you’d find that it took a while for North Carolina liquor distribution and legislation to reverse course from these deep-seated Prohibitionist roots. Until 2015, North Carolinian distilleries weren’t even allowed to sell their own product, and even then, they could only sell one ‘commemorative’ bottle. As Barger puts it, “it’s hard to build a brand if you don’t have access to the market.” He and the rest of the craft distillery movement broke an important barrier in 2019 and gained approval for “unlimited sales, the ability for in-store tasting, the ability to sell cocktails made from their products, access to the ABC system...we went from zero to hero over the course of that decade.” Part of Barger’s argument to secure these allowances was that he and his distilling counterparts were supporting the North Carolina agriculture industry by using 60,000 pounds of grain per day. Through and through, Southern Distilling Company is an illustration of a local success story, rooted in community and driven by innovation. They opened to the public in 2017.
A big part of Southern Distilling Company’s success lies in its crafty business model that allocates 90% of production to outside contracts and 10% to the house brands. Most distilleries, especially those that focus on producing whiskey, find it difficult to keep the lights on and manage cash flow in the early years. Even if they do, scaling up can prove to be too high a mountain to climb. Making the decision to focus primarily on contract distilling as a means of creating equity to slowly and properly build an independent brand is rare today, but was virtually unheard of back then. “When we started almost 12 years ago now, there were really only a very few sources. I’m not going to name the names, but we all know who they are and there are some really big players. How can you say you’re craft if you’re sourcing from one of the biggest distilleries in the United States? How can you say you’re craft and different, if you’re really not?” Barger poses. Southern Distilling Company built their contract business around two main factors, authenticity and the ability to tailor flavor profiles for their clients due to their advanced distilling methods and systems. Today they produce whiskey for over 140 companies around the world, which accounts for the vast majority of their business. Simply put, “contract is the flywheel,” per Barger, and it has helped them build their Southern Star whiskeys, which were themselves sourced in the beginning, into the house made products they are today.
“We’re running chemistry on this all the time. We have a very sophisticated, analytical laboratory. We’re running all sorts of tests as it’s in the cooker, as it’s coming out of the cooker as it’s going into the mash cooler, all the way through the tails coming out of the back of the process. We probably do more of that data grab than anyone else, at least any other distillery that I’ve been in.”
So how does their process differ, and give them the latitude to create such variation for themselves and their clients? They work with a variety of mash bills, mostly made from grains grown on their own family farms or neighboring farms that they contract with. “The nature of the product starts in fermentation.” Barger insists, stating that he can control his fermenters better than most. “We ferment with super tight temperature gradients and I don’t have gradients within that fermenter, so we’re still fermenting anaerobically but we don’t have stagnation within that vessel which means we have super consistent fermentation.” They lean on two robust proprietary yeast strains that can withstand higher temperatures and produce good ester development and yield.
Traditionally, when doing the first distillation of whiskey, also known as the stripping run, you collect everything that comes off the still to increase your potential yield at the end. That is your “low wines,” and it is filled with volatile organic compounds that are not safe to consume like methanol and acetone. The low wines then get distilled again, known as the spirit run, where you become more selective with what you collect off the still, keeping only the best cut as your “high wines.” Barger places heavy emphasis on how Southern Distilling Company runs their low wines. “We’re going to give up a little bit of yield …because I don’t want those volatiles coming over … The barrel will atone for the sins of production, but if I haven’t sinned in production, I’m not asking the barrel to atone for all this additional time.” Ultimately, Barger doesn’t want the barrel to clean up his products. He wants the barrel to mature his products, so when running his low wines he keeps the condenser on his still at a temperature that prevents those compounds from coming out of solution.
After a mash bill has been decided on, yeast is chosen, careful fermentation is achieved, a tight low wines run is complete, and tests upon tests have been analyzed, there is one more place where Southern Distilling Company can differentiate their products. The final distillation. Southern Distilling Company has one client who produces an American Blended Whiskey using a 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley mash bill for their blending base, but they want it to be almost neutral. To achieve this, Barger distills their whiskey to a high proof, though still under 160 proof. On the opposite side of the spectrum, he has a different client that wants to come off the still at 120 proof, which is very low for high wines. He describes it as “almost tequila-esque.”
For their house brands they have Southern Star Bourbon. A high rye bourbon with a 60% corn, 36% rye and 4% malted barley mash bill. They also feature a wheated bourbon, the first whiskey they laid down for themselves called, Southern Star Paragon Bottled-in-Bond Wheated Bourbon. It is made from a 70% corn, 16% wheat and 14% malted barley mash bill. They have two different rye whiskeys. Hunting Creek Rye, named for an old North Carolina heritage brand that was lost to the state’s early prohibition era laws, made from a 51% rye, 39% corn and 10% malted barley mash bill and bottled-in-bond. The typography and iconography is original to the old brand. What’s not original is the illustration on the label which Barger describes as “the goddess of the hunt.” There is a woman that is an aged montage of Barger's two daughters with the family’s German short haired pointer. A beautiful family tribute to an old standard. The other rye is the Southern Star Double Rye, made by blending two different rye mash bills, their 95% Abruzzi rye, 5% malted barley mash bill (made in house, not sourced from MGP) and the Hunting Creek mash bill. The rye is then finished in wheated bourbon barrels for an undisclosed amount of time, which Barger explains is because “it’s ready when it’s ready. Sometimes it’s x amount of time and sometimes it’s 3x time.” He wanted this rye to be accessible and approachable and not be over the top with spice, but with enough punch to stand out in a cocktail. For every bottle of Southern Star Double Rye that is sold, Southern Distilling Company donates 50% of the proceeds to Purple Heart Homes, a national organization founded and headquartered in Statesville, NC that helps create housing solutions for disabled and aging veterans.
“We aim to create the best spirits for you to sip while soaking up life’s greatest moments.”
Southern Distilling Company, as both a brand and an ideal, seeks to highlight the essence of time. Time-related phrases are scattered throughout their website, such as “Only the moments worth sharing,” “we pour time and thought into every bottle,” and “let the ice melt.” Barger pulls from his personal life as inspiration for this temporal motif: “My dad and I were very close. No matter how tired I was, I took the time to sit on the back porch with him and have a glass of bourbon.” The aim is for Southern Distilling Company’s products to reach a level that truly honors those special, fleeting moments—warm in the instance and leaving a touch of bittersweetness when they’re gone, just like bourbon itself.
While Southern Distilling Company celebrates the fleeting beauty of time, it’s Barger’s passion for the art of distillation that drives the journey behind each bottle - in particular, finding excellence in every step. “Everyone around here takes pride in our craft...you won’t find a cleaner facility [than our distillery]...that’s not because I’m telling people to pick this or that up, but because we all take pride in excellence.” Harkening back to Southern Distilling Company’s role in the North Carolina marketplace, he adds, “you’re tasting North Carolina in the grain. You’re tasting North Carolina in the distillate...86% of the grain used in our product came from within twenty miles of the distillery.” Through and through, Southern Distilling Company is proud of its heritage and active role in defining what it means to be a craft producer.
Southern Distilling Company dances the line between craft and industrial production with their contract-first business model, which has given Barger a valuable perspective on what makes craft liquor...well, craft. He compares it to the automotive industry: “Porsche is a big company, but it’s a craft company...When you go to work there, you apprentice there, then work there, and retire there. It’s craft...You can be craft and be a big organization. It’s about how you do it.” It’s difficult to constrain a craft beverage to particular parameters or distinctions, but when you sip one, you’ll know if it deserves the “craft” descriptor.
Southern Distilling Company is about telling a story of innovation rooted in tradition, process and refinement elevated by science, and moments made meaningful by the passage of time. Whether through a sip of their house brand or a product developed for a global partner, Southern Distilling Company. invites you to raise a glass to excellence, a daringness to think differently, and a deep appreciation for the journey that brought you here.
TASTING NOTES
Southern Star Straight High Rye Bourbon (45% ABV)
Nose: Honey, Vanilla, Leather, Orange Marmalade
Palate: The mouthfeel is a bit thin and watery with up front sweet notes of vanilla and sugar. Those give way to drier and spicier notes of oak, black pepper and cinnamon which persists through a long finish with additional flavors of salted caramel and orange.
This whiskey really grows and evolves. The thin texture and subtle sweetness up front belie the heavier oak and spice that come sweeping in halfway through. The finish just keeps on going and there isn’t an off note along the way. You can taste the care and precision that went into this distillate. The texture is probably the result of the column distillation, but certainly doesn’t get in the way of this being an all around phenomenal example of high rye bourbon.
Southern Star Paragon Bottled in Bond Straight Wheated Bourbon (50% ABV)
Nose: Vanilla, Bubblegum, Dried Fruit, Herbs
Palate: The mouthfeel is thin with a slight viscosity with subtly sweet and somewhat bitter notes up front of candied orange. Those quickly give way to oak, allspice and black pepper. The midpalate sweetens back up as it approaches a long finish with flavors of vanilla, honey, orange and more oak.
This whiskey packs a punch. It’s not your pappy’s wheated bourbon. While I did unfortunately pick up bubblegum on the nose (something I have to admit I’m overly sensitive to in wheated whiskies) I was happy to not taste it on the palate. If Maker’s Mark is the quintessential introduction to wheated bourbon, this is next level up. The heat coming from the BIB 100 proof is perfect. The finish is long and luxurious and the texture is a nice step up from the high rye. Every moment and every flavor in this feels on purpose, and knowing Southern Distilling Company’s story, I know it is.
Southern Star Double Rye Whiskey (44% ABV)
Nose: Brown Sugar, Pink Peppercorn, Wet Grass, Wood Chips, Licorice
Palate: The mouthfeel is again thin with slight viscosity with sweet berry and light oak notes up front. That sweetness persists though the midpalate, opening up to more fruits like bananas, plums and cherries with heavy baking spices and oak in the background that last through a medium finish.
It is clear that this is a rye meant to appeal to a bourbon drinker. It’s a sweet one! Now that said, rye, in addition to it’s standard spicy and herbal notes can also be known for it’s stone fruit profile, given the right mash bill and fermentation style. While sweet, it’s still noticeably not a bourbon. It’s a very easy and enjoyable sipper, but I would be cautious to use it in common rye cocktails like a Manhattan as I would worry it would be overly sweet when added to the vermouth.