BY EMILY COLLIINS

When Mikell Elliott makes the trip to the farm he grew up on in Summerton, S.C., he lies to those who try to reach him, saying he has no cell service. Elliott comes from three generations of farmers, and his father, aunt and uncle still work on the farm. He drives the hour and fifteen minutes to Summerton two or three times a month to get some much-needed peace and quiet, but also to pick up corn, wheat and rye.

      The grains he gathers are a vital part of running the distillery that his brother Carlton Elliott and Brent Stephens, a longtime friend, opened last July. Mikell, the head distiller for Charleston Distilling Co., explains that the distillery was simply “a good idea we had in a bar one night.” But it reflects a national trend, as micro-distilleries are beginning to pop up all over the country. 

      Charleston Distilling Co. is filled with a low humming of machines in various stages of creating specialty vodka, whisky and gin. The building has high ceilings and is filled with copper tanks and ceiling-high barrels, making for an attractive space that is often rented out for events (most recently for one that included a private concert by Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker).

      The distillery is a farm-to-liquor and back-to-farm operation. Julius Batton, a goat farmer from Berkeley County, picks up the distillery’s leftover corn, wheat and rye—a mix known as “mash”­—to feed to his goats and pigs a couple times every month.

      “Nothing gets wasted here,” boasts Mikell.

      Stephens and the Elliott brothers dreamed of opening a distillery for years, but were discouraged by the half-million dollar license that was required. Mikell views the high price as a strategic barrier to keep smaller distilleries from opening. “There was no law to differentiate between someone making one case a year and someone who makes 100,000 cases a year,” he says.

      In 2009, when new legislation went into effect, the price dropped to $5,000, making their dream possible, and, in Mikell’s words, “giving the little guys a chance.” As more microdistilleries began to open across the country, it became obvious that the permit prices in South Carolina were too high and were discouraging these small businesses from opening.

      In addition to Charleston Distilling Co., other small distilleries opened last year in the Charleston area, including Highwire Distilling and the Striped Pig Distillery. The opening of these three small distilleries formed an important niche business, says Elliott, who believes it is important that they get along with each other rather than compete. “We’re all brothers-in-arms trying to go in and take some dollars out of the pockets of your Grey Goose and your Smirnoffs,” says Mikell.

      The growth of small distilleries across the U.S. has sparked a shift in the country’s drinking habits. According to the Post and Courier, the number of licensed microdistilleries in the country doubled from 90 to 180 between January 2010 and September 2012, and that number is expected to rise.

      Mikell and the owners of the Charleston Distilling Co. are working closely with legislators to change the law on tastings in distilleries. The current legislation prevents distilleries from mixing their liquor during tastings.  “We can’t mix anything at all, so it’s like: here’s some straight gin at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday,” Mikell complains. He notes the law was made with breweries and wineries in mind and believes that something must change in order for liquor to be tasted, “the way it’s meant to be tasted.”

      Despite this difficulty, College of Charleston student Libby Bora, who recently took a tour at the distillery, remembered the tasting being, “surprisingly easy.” She adds, “As someone who usually doesn’t take shots, the liquor was so good it kind of went down easy.”