State lawmakers addressed reporters at Chapel Hill’s Top of the Hill Distillery on Tuesday to celebrate a new law that allows distilleries in North Carolina to sell bottles of liquor directly to customers.
In his opening remarks, North Carolina Sen. Rick Gunn, a Republican representing Alamance and Randolph Counties, expressed excitement about the new business opportunities made possible by the passage into law of House Bill 909.
“We have seen the wine industry explode in the state of North Carolina,” said Gunn. “We’ve seen craft brewers accelerate in their business models, and their locations. And now we have an incredible emerging market in our distilleries. These are individuals that are entrepreneurs.”
Gunn called local distillers “visionaries” – risk-takers who have “put it on the line” to create jobs, a tax base, and “an incredible product” to North Carolina.
He was joined by three Republicans from the N.C. House.
District 10 Rep. John Bell of Goldsboro talked about how the new law helps some of his Lenoir County constituents, in their efforts to open a distillery in downtown Kinston.
“The big thing you need to realize is that, yes, this is growing an industry,” said Bell, “ but we also changed laws, to let this industry grow, that haven’t been changed since Prohibition.”
Bell said that small businesses such as Top of the Hill play a big role in driving the state’s economy. He praised bipartisan work in the legislature to get the bill passed after a three-year push.
He added that he hopes to see North Carolina give Tennessee and Kentucky some strong competition in the whiskey market.
Rep. Brian Brown, a co-sponsor of HB 909, said that while his Pitt County district doesn’t have any distilleries yet, it wasn’t hard to sell him on the bill.
“Rep. Bell came up to me and asked me what I thought about this bill,” said Brown, adding, to laughter in room, “and I think, at the time, I was actually holding a sweet-potato vodka [from a local distiller]. And I said: ‘I’m on board.’”
On a more serious note, Brown said he was happy to be part of easing regulations to make doing business a little easier for North Carolina distillers.
Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherford County, along with Bell, was a primary sponsor of the bill. He recalled that when he was elected in 2010, Rutherford’s unemployment was up at 19 percent, due to the demise of the textile and furniture industries there. He summed up his support for HB909 by saying: “You know, guys, to me, it’s about jobs.”
Hager added that this law will mean a lot to people hit the hardest since the recession, particularly in rural areas.
In urban Chapel Hill, the new way of doing business will be significant as well, according to Top of the Hill owner Scott Maitland, who spoke to WCHL after the press conference. He said he’s excited to offer bottles of his vodka, whiskey and gin directly to customers for the first time ever.
It beats the old way of just hoping that impressed tourists will head directly over to the ABC store after a tasting. Research, he said, shows that’s rarely the case. And now, he can try new things, and take risks, unhampered by cost-prohibitive marketing through the ABC system.
“One of the issues in North Carolina has been the ability to make some of the truly innovative craft products – interesting and different – and be able to sell that,” said Maitland.
Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB 909 into law this past Friday. The new law takes effect Oct. 1.
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