About Us

Pinetop was originally founded in 2014; birthed from a shared passion for craft spirits and support for the local movements seen in the food, beverage, and artisan industries.  We’re a team of self-taught distillers, using our shared backgrounds in engineering, biochemistry, finance, and marketing to bring Raleigh it’s first true grain-to-glass distillery.

Our Name

Pinetop is an old nickname for moonshine and a fitting moniker for a distillery born in the “land of the pines”.  As opposed to using a “sugar shine” recipe, popular during Prohibition, we’ve reached back to classic bourbon grain bills to create our exceptionally smooth, unaged spirit, branded as our Carolina moonshine.  Our moonshine will also serve as the base for our citrus-infused Carolina gin and aged bourbon.

Our Process

All of our products begin with 100% grains.  We use a primary corn base and supplement with wheat, rye, and barley to create a unique flavor.  To begin, our grains are mashed in a 300 gallon mashtun, cooled and yeasted to create a “wort”.  We employ two distillation steps, first using a custom designed and welded continuous still.  Our secondary distillation step uses a 6 ft forced reflux column which helps to concentrate our alcohol percentage and strip out impurities.  Finally, our products are hand blended to ensure consistency in flavor and smoothness.