Top of the Hill owner Scott Maitland had a lot to celebrate last week.
The same day that his son Andrew was born, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law that allows distilleries to sell one bottle of liquor per person, per year
“The final bill passed on Thursday, five minutes after my son was born,” he said. “So I kind of felt like I was giving birth to twins.”
The Top of the Hill distillery on Franklin Street sells craft spirits, such as whiskey, vodka and gin. It is now allowed to sell some of its liquor at the distillery and celebrated with an open house.
The first legal liquor bottle sold outside of the ABC system since 1909 was sold to North Carolina state senator Rick Gunn Thursday morning. Gunn sponsored the bill and helped get it passed.
“We’re super excited,” said TOPO distiller Keith Crissman. “We feel that we now have a chance to get our spirits out to the public”
Before the law was passed, all liquor sales were handled by the ABC commission, meaning anyone wanting to purchase liquor would have to do so at an ABC store.
Despite only being allowed to sell one bottle per person per year, Crissman said he thinks the new laws will make it easier for people to try craft spirits.
“People recognize the quality that craft spirits can bring,” he said. “They maybe want to pick something different than their parents or grandparents drank.”
Maitland said he expects the new laws to help with local tourism because it will make distilleries a more attractive place to visit.
“Whether people are touring breweries, wineries or distilleries, but also diaries, they’ll say ‘hey I can come, I check it out and I can take a bottle home with me’ and that’s a big thing,” he said.
He said he thinks the next logical change is to allow a person to buy one bottle of each product per year, but said after fighting for years to get the current law passed, he would like to take a break and run his business.
For Maitland, the birth of his child and the expansion of his business is something he’s experienced before.
“I got the opportunity to buy (the distillery) right when my daughter was born, so I was reviewing documents while I was feeding her as a week old infant,” he said. “I think it’s really interesting that now Andrew is born and a week later we’re having this event.”
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