Thursday,September 10th I flew from DFW to Charlotte, NC via Knoxville, TN. This was not a planned stop in Knoxville,TN...but a rain delay. My flight had circled Charlotte airport for 30 minutes until the pilot said we would have to land in Knoxville to refuel and wait out the storm. I was scheduled to arrive in Charlotte at 7:30pm but did not arrive until 10:30pm. I sure wished I would have eaten a larger dinner at the DFW terminal before I boarded my flight.
Friday, September 11th. We both had a day off from work and we drove to Spartanburg, SC to meet my cousin Rhonda at Fatz Cafe for lunch. Fatz Cafe serves all kinds of american food from steaks to sandwiches. I had the chicken pot pie (which was wonderful).
http://www.fatz.com/
On the way to Spartanburg, we drove by a Cheerwine truck. This is a favorite soda of my mom's.
Cheerwine is a cherry-flavored soft drink produced by the Carolina Beverage Corporation of Salisbury, North Carolina. It has been produced since 1917 by "the oldest continuing soft drink company still run by the same family"
.
We then drove from Spartanburg, SC to Asheville, NC.
It took about 1 1/2 hours.
This was our view driving to Asheville, NC.
We had a great visit catching up with Pam.
We had not seen her since the January 2013 cruise.
Saturday morning, we were up bright and early for a long road trip to Benson, NC.
It took about 3.5 hours to drive from Charlotte, NC to Benson, NC.
Benson, NC is located east of Charlotte, just south of Raleigh and is North Carolina's moonshine capital.
We visited BroadSlab Distillery.
http://broadslabdistillery.com/Home.aspxWe took the one hour tour led by the sole owner/operator, Jeremy.
We learned about all
the natural, handcrafted products (moonshine, whiskey & rum)
made at this distillery and how/why they make them.
We received a free shot glass and tasting of our products. Tour cost =
$12/pp.
The outside of the building that houses "the still"
When the distillery was built, the focus was on authenticity. They cut
no corners, doing everything necessary to deliver authentic moonshine
whiskey – just like their ancestors made. This was especially true when
building the still. Today, legal North Carolina moonshiners often
buy commercial grade distilling units. That just wouldn't do for Jeremy.
Nothing renders authentic results like a hand-crafted, solid copper pot
still (see above).
A copper still is the iconic symbol of moonshine lore.
Working with master
craftsmen using the latest techniques and equipment, they directly welded
copper into a solid unit. After months of planning, design and
ingenuity, the Broadslab double thumper pot still is a 500-gallon, solid
copper work of art. It is the perfect tool for authentic whiskey making
in volume production.
The moonshine/whiskey fermentation tubs.
The rum fermenter.
The barrels used to age the shine, whiskey & rum.
Barrels come from the Kentucky cooperage in Lebanon, KY.
Below is the bottling setup.
Jeremy bottles about 6 times per year, 100 cases at a time ( 6 bottles per case)
Below: The tasting room, which was the original house of Jeremy's grandfather - Leonard A Wood.
I was very nervous about tasting moonshine,as the proof is very high and I was worried it would taste like gasoline. The pours were tiny sips in shot glasses and I liked everything I tried. We even bought two bottles to bring home so our family and friends could try some too!
After the distillery tour, we went to the ABC Liquor store to purchase our "shine" and then found a nice place to have lunch in Benson. White Swan BBQ.
http://whiteswanbarbeque.com/
White Swan Bar-B-Q features award winning genuine Eastern
North Carolina pork barbecue.
Made from a 50 year old secret recipe,
White Swan Bar-B-Que has been voted one of the top 25 Bar-B-Qs in the
SouthEast. E
astern North Carolina Bar-B-Q is unlike any other in the
world. It's a taste that you must experience. T
heir Bar-B-Q sauce is made with a
vinegar and spice sauce which enhances the smoked flavor of the fresh
pork. The pork is slowly cooked in a covered cooker which holds in
the smoked flavor.
The meat is then chopped, ready to eat and is great on
sandwiches in a hamburger bun with cold slaw
or by itself, there is
no other Bar-B-Q like it.
Below: Awesome Hush puppies!!!
Sunday morning, we drove back to Asheville, NC to visit Troy & Son's Distillery
and the adjacent Highland Brewing Company.
Highland Brewing
http://www.highlandbrewing.com/ was open for tastings and had live music playing
...but we were disappointed to find out Troy & Sons
http://www.ashevilledistilling.com/ only do tours/tastings on Fridays and Saturdays at 5pm and 6pm only.
But we did luck out at a Troy & Sons employee was visiting Highland Brewing
and he opened up the distillery for a 1:1 tour.
The stainless steel still and thumper. These can be seen on the Discovery station show "Moonshiners"
On our way back to Charlotte, we stopped at Phils BBQ in Black Mountain, NC.
The rest of the week, I worked from the hotel room, while Doug continued to work at the site getting the DeLaRue equipment ready for shipment back to Dallas.
Friday morning, we flew back to Dallas, arriving at 9am, just in time for me to start my work day.
It was another great week in North Carolina.
