6 North Carolina Small-Batch Distilleries Worth Tapping Into | Eater Carolinas

"This Bull City distillery began offering tastings and tours October 1, 2015, with its Conniption gins launching in ABC stores two months prior. Now distributed in over a dozen states and the U.K, the award-winning gin now even cans its own cocktails. Why gin? “We chose to be a gin distillery not only because we love gin and have a passion for the category but also because we are the first gin distillery in the United States to distill gin leveraging both traditional vapor distillation and cold-vacuum distillation with our rotary evaporators,” says co-owner Melissa Katrincic. “The use of rotary evaporators in gin distillation had never been done in the U.S. and was only used by two other distilleries in the entire world at the time.” She adds, “It enables us to create natural flavors without heat and our techniques are truly differentiated for why Conniption gins are recognized as some of the best gins in the world.” Lee and Melissa are the first — and to date only — gin distillers from the American South to ever be inducted into the prestigious Gin Guild in London." - Melissa Howsam