Some businesses are built around a product. The best ones are built around a purpose.

Oak & Grist Distilling Company has been quietly, steadily doing something special in the mountains of Western North Carolina (Black Mountain, NC) for nearly a decade now. And the more you learn about how they work, why they work that way, and what drives them to keep going, the more you understand why we wanted to shine a light on them.

We asked. They answered. Here's the whole story.

Meet Oak & Grist

Here's what happens when you give a great team the floor.

SW: We already know and love you all, but introduce your team a little bit for the O&G newbies!

O&G: Oak and Grist is a small, hardworking team of five, and we get a lot done with just ten hands. 

Brett manages our tasting room and internal events. He came to us after more than a decade at some of Asheville's most well-known food and beverage establishments.

Charlie spent years in the wine industry, went on to study brewing and distillation before taking over our production five years ago. 

Arah is the mastermind behind the current cocktail program at the distillery. Her drinks are a masterclass on how to feature local spirits in a bar program.

Spencer puts in miles on the road, building relationships with bars and restaurants across North Carolina. He’s definitely one of the few salespeople you actually would want to walk through your door.

With a background in agriculture, William is the founder/head distiller at Oak and Grist. His background and passion for local agriculture laid the groundwork for what would become western North Carolina’s only fully grain-to-glass distillery.

SW: What do you make, and what do you think most people know you for?

O&G: Because genever was the first product we bottled, it’s likely folks know us best for that, but if they haven’t tried our whiskies, then they are really missing out.

Oak and Grist was founded to craft a Scottish Speyside-style single malt whiskey (made from 100% locally grown & malted barley). We are currently bottling two core single malts. Using strictly pale malt and aged exclusively in ex-bourbon barrels, Origin showcases a soft orchard fruit, waffle cone and mocha profile. Together with new oak casks (char #2 & #4), Descendent blends pale and Munich malts for a deeper caramel, baking spice, and dark fruit profile. Over the last few years, we have been releasing some really fun special releases and finishes. Most recently, a peach wood-smoked single malt; the first natively produced North Carolina smoked single malt!

We also make Genever, the original Dutch style of gin (the style all other gin was born out of). This centuries-old botanical spirit is whiskey-based, which gives it a rich biscuity profile. Almost all gin distilleries opt for a neutral vodka base, but as whiskey makers, it seemed a shame to leave all that great profile on the table. Just like those that have come before us, our genever was developed to dial back the heavy juniper notes in favor of the more delicate botanicals like chamomile and lemon verbena that we use. This makes it a more versatile and balanced spirit than the typical gin. 

Because genever is a whiskey-based spirit, it made it an ideal spirit to age. Our Barrel Reserve Genever is made from the same eight botanicals, but it spends about a year in our Descendent barrels. This helps the spirit develop notes of light honey, dark berry, graham cracker, and warming spices.

SW: Oak & Grist has such a distinct identity in the Western North Carolina spirits landscape. How did the idea for the distillery first spark?

O&G: William’s pursuit of single malt whiskey began with his first trip to Scotland in 2010 to visit his mentor, Edwin Dodson (a retired master distiller in Scotland). He had just finished studying sustainable agriculture and saw a unique opportunity in whiskey as a value-added agricultural product. 

More specifically, that a North Carolina single malt made from North Carolina barley and aged in the temperate rainforest of western North Carolina would present a profile that would challenge the status quo of what southern whiskey could be.     

SW: Will you tell us about what your name means?

O&G: Our name, Oak & Grist Distilling Company, comes from the end and the beginning of the whiskey-making process. 

Oak, representing the variety of white oak barrels our whiskey ages in.
Grist being the term for coarsely ground grain.

We wanted our name to represent our fundamental value, made from scratch entirely at our distillery.

SW: Your grain-to-glass process is central to your brand. Can you walk us through that a little bit?

O&G: Oak & Grist has been a terroir-driven distillery from the very beginning. Terroir is the idea that where something grows impacts the profile of that agricultural product.It is well understood in the wine world, which has led to regionally specific wine styles like Burgundy and Champagne. Our distillery stands on that same principle. 

As one of only three ingredients, the profile our local barley brings to the table is the foundation that we build our spirit’s distillery character from. Most consumers would be surprised at how common it is to outsource some or all of a distillery’s production and to get grain from thousands of miles away.

Our choice to make every drop of Oak & Grist spirit entirely from scratch using 100% locally grown and malted barley is not only a point of pride for us, but it is fundamental to why our spirits stand out.       

SW: You put a spotlight on local farmers and regional ingredients (like Spicewalla Spices). How do those relationships shape y’all’s products? Which ingredients are you using to really blow people’s minds?

O&G: The relationships we have developed with local farmers and the use of regional ingredients are critical to shaping our products. When we were deciding on the botanicals for our genever, one of the considerations was does it grow or can it be grown in western North Carolina. We are currently able to source 50% of our botanicals from within 100 miles of the distillery. For the ones that we can’t find on local farms, we turn to local businesses like Spicewalla, not only because of the exceptional quality, but because we try to keep as much of our dollar in the local economy as possible.


People are always surprised to hear that we include local carrots in our genever. It sounds strange on paper, but they bring a very complementary earthy sweetness to the spirit.

SW: Looks like the distillery isn’t just cranking out amazing spirits, but also events! What are some upcoming things folks can expect?

O&G: For the last couple of months, we have been partnering with LEAF Global Arts to showcase local musicians who bring a global sound to their performances. We are looking forward to continuing our musical partnership with them and folks more of that to come.

Every third Tuesday, the Dark City Poets Society hosts their monthly poetry night at the distillery. There are some really talented folks that show up, but you want to get there early for these since they are always standing room only.

The remaining Tuesdays every month, we have a Book Swap where folks can bring a book, leave a book, read a book, or take a book. 

We also try to focus heavily on fun and educational based events related to what we do. We are currently hosting monthly cocktail classes and a quarterly series we call Barrel Proof, where folks can get a behind-the-scenes peek at what we have going on in our barrel warehouse.

SW: You do a lot of giving back to the community. Will you tell us about some of your partners there?

O&G: Our longest-standing non-profit partnership was established with OUR Voice before we even distilled our first batch. For every bottle of our Genever of Barrel Reserve that we sell, we donate 1% of profits to them in support of survivors of sexual assault and harassment. It was important to us that we acknowledge and condemn the unfortunate role that alcohol plays in many of those cases.

Over the last several months, we have teamed up monthly with Mountain True to amplify their river clean-up efforts.

We strongly believe in supporting the community that supports us, so many of our events benefit area non-profits. Over the years, we have been proud to support the efforts of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, Racial Justice Coalition, Friends of the Black Mountain library, Asheville on Bikes, LEAF Global Arts, Mountain True, Catawba River Keeper, G5 Trails, Mountain Housing Opportunities, and more.

SW: Who/what inspires you? Especially when things are stressful, how are you keeping things fun and meaningful?

O&G: We draw inspiration from countless people, industries and fellow producers, but the biggest inspiration for us is the pursuit of an ever better product. Because whiskey ages for so long, it is an ever-evolving product and nearly 10 years in, we have only just begun to unlock the true potential of our single malt. There is always an opportunity to reach deeper and find new expressions of what we make.

When things are stressful, we search for new ways to root ourselves in the local community. It is where it all began, and it is our greatest source of purpose.

SW: Anything else you wish people knew about you?

O&G: Folks can not only sample OG spirits at our tasting room, but they can buy bottles, sip cocktails and take a tour of our production facility.