Contributed Photo Flaming Aces Distillery hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.

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By Brittnee Bryant
Star Correspondent

From the spirits to the stills, everything at Flaming Aces Distillery is made in-house.

“We focus more on quality than quantity,” explains owner Tracy Baumgardner. “We’re actively trying to source as much stuff as we can locally. We make everything in-house.”

Baumgardner, a U.S. Army veteran and owner of Ace Custom Cooper, has roots in both Carter County and in Wilkes County, North Carolina, also known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World” during Prohibition. He says Flaming Aces Distillery is about bringing roots and heritage back to Carter County. It’s also the first legal distillery in the area in 120 years.

The brand-new business held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, kicking off a four-day grand opening celebration, which is set to continue through Saturday. Each day, attendees can expect food trucks, tours of the facility and free tastings. Spirits up for a taste include Stoney Creek Moonshine, Blue Hole Sour Mash, Carolina Ridge Runner Rum, Tiffany’s Elderberry Bliss, Blackberry Elderberry Moonshine and Strawberry Moonshine.

“I think that people are gonna see a difference. If they’ve tried moonshine in the past, I think they’re gonna see something drastically different here,” says Baumgardner. “The feedback we received during the friends and family grand opening was almost everyone that tasted it said, ‘Wow, this doesn’t have that nasty aftertaste that we used to,’ or, ‘You know, this is really smooth.’ We put our heart and soul into everything we do, so if it’s not good, we wouldn’t be selling it.”

Baumgardner also touched on concerns he has heard regarding the business being a bar. He says this is not the case and notes there will not be people sitting around getting intoxicated.

“We do tastings, tours and bottle sales for off-site consumption,” he says. “At some point we will add cocktails, but the state is pretty strict on what we can do from a top cocktail standpoint. It has to be stuff that we make. If and when we do decide to add cocktails, it’ll be cocktails only, made with stuff that we make in the distillery.”

Looking to the future, Baumgardner says he wants to eventually offer distillation classes to the public and hold events like cornhole tournaments to help raise money for charity.

“We’re gonna be active members of the community, doing as much stuff as we can to help the community,” he says.

Flaming Aces Distillery is located at 783 Hwy 91, Suite 4, in Elizabethton. The business is open Wednesday–Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For the latest updates, go to their Facebook page or their website at flamingaces.net.