THE
Spirits of Whiskey
Prison BY KIMBERLY BROUILLETTE
F
rom inside the walls of an old prison on the outskirts of Mount Pleasant, the Southern Grace Distillery has made its mark with its legal, award-winning white corn whisky and bourbon. Currently, the popular distillery distributes to 13 states, plus its first foreign city, Hanoi, Vietnam. It has even gained national and international notice for many of its brands, which include Sun Dog 130 Small Batch (a gold medal winner at the San Diego International Spirits Competition and at The Fifty Best in New York City); Sun Dog Pink Lemonade (Spirited Lemonade of the Year at the Berlin International Spirits Competition and a platinum winner at the SIP awards); Sun Dog Apple Dumplin’ (silver medal at the North American Bourbon and Whiskey Competition) and Zero Dark 130, which is a 100-proof 12 | Cabarrus Magazine
variation of its recipe. Their first bourbon whiskey, named Conviction and released in 2017, took a gold medal at the Micro Liquor awards in California and earned top honors (Double Gold) at The Fifty Best competition in NYC. The facility, now fondly called “Whiskey Prison,” has also gained recognition in national media outlets due to its notoriety as the first distillery in America founded in an actual former prison. The irony of its current use, when compared to its original purpose, was never lost on the late Leanne Powell, co-founder and president of this unique local facility, who passed away suddenly in July, 2019. The N.C. Cabarrus Correctional Center on Dutch Road was a minimum security prison founded in 1927. Although considered crude and sometimes cruel, when compared
