In business since 2012, Moonrise Distillery is recognized as the number-one distillery in Georgia. With highly-rated bourbons, vodka, gin and whiskey, Moonrise has garnered 34 medals in national competitions for the spirits it produces at the distillery located right off Highway 441 in Clayton.
The secret to that success? According to owner Doug Nassaur, it’s a commitment to staying local. “We’re all about Rabun County and featuring local products,” he says. “Our goal was to create an old world distillery that does it the old-fashioned way – hand-crafted from local ingredients using traditional trade craft methods to make products of the highest quality.”
The combination of tours, tastings and a full cocktail bar attracts up to 8,000 visitors a month. “The thinking always was: ‘Girls drink wine, boys drink bourbon.’ We’ve created an environment that both the girls and boys can enjoy,” Nassaur says.
Moonrise is a family affair with Nassaur’s wife, Jennifer, son, C.J., and mother, Barbara all involved in the operation. Their motto: “Always by hand, local when we can, and no yucky stuff.”
Its products are available across the state in package stores and restaurants. Moonrise added over 640 new retailers to its distribution network in the last quarter of 2020. But retailing is not the company’s focus. “We want to be a regional destination,” Nassaur says. “We want to get people here to learn about our products and the area.”
The distillery offers live music every Sunday, rain or shine, at its adjacent amphitheater. And for devoted fans, Moonrise has an Ambassador Program that provides access to all tours and tastings, special events and enrollment in “Spirits School” where Doug teaches the finer points of evaluating, sampling and grading barrels.
Moonrise is devoted to community service as well by opening the distillery to special fundraising events. And when the pandemic hit, Nassaur shifted operations from whisky-making to producing 30,000 gallons of hand sanitizer that was distributed throughout the county.
Future plans include expansion of the tasting room and gift shop, doubling the size of the barrel house and creation of a speakeasy lounge. Also on the drawing board, a moonshine museum and a working moonshine still to celebrate this important facet of mountain life. And if you have any family stories or moonshining artifacts, Doug would like to hear from you.
Moonrise Distillery
31 Webb Road
Clayton, GA 30525
Owner: Doug Nassaur
Phone: 844.994.4759
Email: info@moonrisedistillery.com
Website: www.moonrisedistillery.com