Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Curry.
Hi Alison, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My husband was just retired and I told him he needed something to do. He kept talking about starting a distillery for years and I said this is the perfect time to pull the trigger. He knew he didn’t want to do it in Chicago which is where we are from. We both wanted to move to a warm climate. We need a city that had good water, tourism and a place we could see ourselves living for a long time. Neither one of us had ever been to Charleston. He flew out because I had to stay back and work. When he got here, he called and said you are going to love it here. The next weekend we both flew back and that’s when Charleston Distilling was born. That weekend we bought the building on King Street which is the main drag in Charleston. We were in that location for 5 years. My husband said if we really want to scale up this company, we need to get bigger equipment. So, we did, it took 2 years to get the new equipment because they build it from scratch. It comes from Germany. The equipment was too tall for our building on King Street so we built a new building over on Johns Island. It worked our beautifully because all our filled Bourbon and Rye barrels were on Johns Island. We built the new distillery next to our warehouse so now it’s more efficient. We have the tallest equipment in the Southeast. With that size equipment the quality of the product is very pure/clean. It come off the still at 192.4 proof which make it very smooth.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think starting a new business from the ground up is ever smooth. I feel you are always learning along the way. We are 8 years in and still learning. My background is Sales and my husband is the numbers guy. As far as the sales go it’s a 3-tiered state which means it goes out our back door to our distributor then to the liquor stores. The restaurants buy it from the liquor stores. I will go out to sell to the restaurants and I have to rely on them to buy it from the liquor store. You don’t write the order right then and there. Most states are sell direct from the distributor to the restaurants. It can take up to 3 visits to make sure they get it in. Also, the state and the federal government requires you to record every ounce of water, grain chemical, etc. with that said it’s a tone of paperwork/filing that has to be record.
As you know, we’re big fans of Charleston Distilling Co. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We made spirits from local grains and from scratch. A lot of distilleries buy their ethanol and put it through their equipment and say they made it. It takes a lot more time to make it from scratch but it’s worth the time because you can control everything. This is what sets us apart from most distilleries. I’m not saying it’s bad to buy the ethanol we just want to put out the best product possible and we feel that’s how we do that. We have vodka, a spicy vodka, gin, agave spirits, ginger cinnamon whiskey liqueur, bourbon, and rye. I think we are most proud of Bourbon. When people taste our Bourbon, they say WOW that’s so good. It the response people have when they taste the products. We do walking tour and flight tasting as well as cocktails in our tasting room. Are product is in SC, Tennessee and Illinois.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think people are starting to realize that small local distilleries can really put out some great product. We are all hoping that the state that have strict liquor laws (no Sundays sales) will change.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@charlestondistilling.com
- Website: www.charlestondistilling.com
- Instagram: charlestondistilling
- Facebook: Charlestondistilling
- Twitter: CHSDistillingCo
