Southern Star Bourbon is Making Spirits Bright

Learn how Southern Star Bourbon goes from grain to glass, producing spirits for more than 200 different brands and clients internationally.

Southern Distilling Co. in Statesville; Photo credit: Rusty Williams Southern Distilling Co. has fostered a “farm to bottle” craft tradition since 2013, bringing award-winning bourbon from Statesville to raised glasses everywhere. Founders Pete and Vienna Barger embarked on their journey of craft distilling with farming roots, choosing spirits for a frontier market with a rich local history.

“We still have the family farm that I grew up on and really wanted to tie the business back into agriculture in some way,” Pete Barger explains. “In the early 2010s, craft distilling was really in its infancy, and we saw an opportunity to do ‘craft at scale.’ We now produce for more than 200 different brands and clients internationally.”

The couple currently produces more than 1.5 million proof gallons annually as a craft contract distiller, some of which are for their own revered brand, Southern Star. Their flagship Southern Star Bourbon won Double Gold at the 2025 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition.

Combines to Cocktails Developing quality spirits on-site is made possible by their local agricultural community because a good bourbon starts with its grains.

Visit Southern Distilling Co. in Statesville for tastings and tours to see how its spirits are made. Photo credit: Rusty Williams When one of their core tenets is caring deeply about their people, process and products, it’s no surprise that Southern Distilling Co. focuses on ingredients. They focus on sourcing from local farmers and use regenerative agriculture practices and environmental stewardship.

“Everything starts with grain. When we’re making bourbon, it’s predominantly corn, and then we’ve got wheat or rye and malted barley,” Barger says. “A lot of our grains historically are grown right here within 15 miles of our facility.”

Distilling 23,000 to 25,000 barrels of whiskey each year out of their facility and consuming 70,000 pounds of grain per day, the scale of their craft relies on generations-old agricultural wisdom.

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“The spent grain, once it’s fermented and been consumed, goes back out to feed dairy or beef cattle,” Barger says. “What doesn’t get fed to cattle gets applied to the land as a nutrient. Not a single gallon of our wastewater goes into a treatment facility, instead it’s tanked back to a dairy farm as reusable, nutrient-laden water. It’s available to blend into our feed ration for the dairy.”

The Star of Statesville Awarded 2024 Exporter of the Year by North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, Southern Distilling Co. revives the spirit of Statesville’s historic moniker as the “liquor capital of the world.” Yes, you read that right. Statesville was once the liquor capital of the world from the late 1880s to early 1900s, before the Prohibition era.

Nathan Benton pours a tasting for visitors at Southern Distilling Co.; Photo credit: Rusty Williams “This liquor business grew up here because you need access to the raw goods like fertile soil and plentiful water and access to transportation,” Barger says. “This was a railroad town.”

About 150 years ago, goods were transported by boat or rail before there were paved roads. When Prohibition began, New England went dry before the Southern states did, and Southern liquor was in demand like never before. Statesville distillers filled masonry crocks with more whiskey than anyone else until Prohibition reached them, too, in 1903.

The legacy of the anti-saloon league and temperance movement of the early 20th-century lived on in North Carolina legislation until very recently.

Against the odds, the Bargers set out to resurrect Statesville’s pre-Prohibition whiskey heritage, even touting the first legal Sunday liquor sale in North Carolina in 2021.

Southern Distilling Co. sources the grains used in its award-winning bourbon from local farmers. Photo credit: Rusty Williams “When we started the business, North Carolina had strict liquor laws,” Barger says. He notes over the last 10 to 12 years, they have partnered with the Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) to work with state legislators and representatives and the state Department of Agriculture, and laws have been revised to be more favorable to businesses like Southern Distilling. “The result is that we’ve gone from probably one of the most restrictive states in the country to really, quite honestly, one of the most supportive and best places to do this business,” Barger says.

Southern Distilling Co. does not take that support for granted, expressing gratitude by pouring back into their community and craft.

Still Life The distillery is open every day and offers behind-the-scenes tours that provide an inside look at their operations and tasting room.

They also host a cask-to-cork experience. “We bring folks in, let them pull, or ‘thief,’ whiskey from four individual barrels, choose which is their favorite, and then fill their own bottle, custom label it and do all the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) reporting that has to be done,” Barger says.

Southern Distilling Co. in Statesville; Photo credit: Rusty Williams Southern Distilling also produces craft bourbon for celebrity brands like Brothers Bond, owned by Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley of the TV series The Vampire Diaries .

“They came to us because they loved the bourbon, but they’re growing their brand with us because of that regenerative agriculture piece,” Barger says. “It is foundational to their brand story.”

Cheers to North Carolina Distillers Using Locally Grown Products

Across the state, three distillers are using local farm products to make delicious spirits that are purely North Carolina.

Their authentic relationship with both contract distilling brands and everyday customers shines through as they expand their offerings beyond what’s bottled.

“We are family-friendly,” Barger says. “We have mini donkeys as well as host craft activities, live music and food trucks. People can come and not just get a cocktail but spend the better part of a day with their family. This is the thing that makes our industry so much fun. We get to have fun, and we get to work with good people. It’s really gratifying from that standpoint.”

If You Go…

Southern Distilling Co.

Location: 211 Jennings Road, Statesville

Hours: Open for tours and tastings daily – noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Website: southerndistillingcompany.com

Southern Star Bourbon is Making Spirits Bright

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