One of the nice things about living in Raleigh is that there are so many interesting places nearby to visit. From the mountains of Asheville to the beautiful Atlantic beaches, there’s a lot to this state to discover. Recently my wife and I flew down to Wilmington for a day trip (mainly to maintain my IFR currency) and we found ourselves at the Wilmington Distillery on Dock Street. Naturally, we had to grab a few bottles to try, so today we’re starting with their Carolina Regulator Whiskey.
History
Matt Karn, better known as “Chewy”, was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated from N.C. State with a degree in chemistry. After spending his whole life in the City of Oaks, he decided it was time for a move and left to strike out on his own in the smaller seaside town of Wilmington. He brought with him not just the clothes on his back but also a passion for distilled spirits.
Since the age of fifteen, Chewy had been drinking Appalachian moonshine, and even had his own small copper pot still where he started experimenting. The problem is that rule number one with moonshine is the same as rule number one for being a protester: shut the f*** up… which makes it kinda hard to share your passion with others.
Starting in 2018, Chewy decided together with his wife start a distillery in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Initially, they imported rum and other spirits from other distilleries, bottling them and selling them at the facility, but in 2021 they expanded into a former oyster bar on Dock Street in downtown Wilmington and opened a combination bar, tasting room, and distillery, complete with copper pot and column stills. Since then, their whiskey has been made in their facility and matured in a nearby warehouse before being rolled back into the bar for bottling.
Product
This is a blend of three different strains of whiskey: a bourbon and two ryes.
For the bourbon, this starts as a combination of sweet corn, rye and malted barley. On the rye side, it starts as a crop of 100% rye grains. In either case, the grains are milled, cooked, and fermented to create a mildly alcoholic liquid. That liquid is then distilled in the copper column and pot stills at their downtown Wilmington distillery to selectively capture the desired elements and concentrate the alcohol within the liquid.
Following distillation, the raw whiskey is placed into charred new oak barrels — for the bourbon it sits for five years, while the rye whiskey takes a bit more of a meandering path. Part of it is aged for six years, with a select portion re-barreled and aged for a total of eight years. Those three strains are then blended together to create the right flavor profile and bottled for sale.
Packaging
The shape of the bottle is pretty common for a small craft distillery — short, round, almost bell shaped with a short neck and capped off with a plastic and synthetic stopper. It’s common because it’s a good choice, and there’s nothing wrong with that for any small-batch distillery.
As for the label, Chewy says that he designed it himself — and seems pretty proud of it. The style looks good, with a black background, gold letters, and a font that looks like it was ripped out of the old west. It doesn’t quite fit the beachy vibe of the distillery (or Chewy himself, now that I’ve met him) but it does look good on the shelf. On the front of the bottle is an illustration of a horse, made by a local artist in the Wilmington area.
The name on the bottle — Carolina Regulators — might at first glance seem to come from the Regulator Movement in North Carolina back in 1766, where groups of settlers protested and agitated against British government oppression and was one of the factors leading to the American Revolution. But in actuality, the whiskey is named after founder Chewy’s favorite fishing boat.
Neat
The first thing you’ll smell right off the top of the glass is raw corn and rye bread, which makes perfect sense since those are the primary raw ingredients here. There’s also some brown sugar sweetness and a bit of charred caramel that gives the profile some depth.
Taking a sip, there’s a depth and a complexity here that’s actually pretty interesting. Up front I’m getting mostly the bourbon notes — cedar chips, circus peanuts, toasted brown sugar, vanilla, dark chocolate, coffee, and some leather. There’s also a flash of sourdough bread in there, likely from the malted barley.
Usually with a blended spirit like this I’ll see a hard edge where it turns from one flavor profile into the other, but here the transition is smooth and unnoticeable unless you knew in advance where to look. The biggest indications that the rye is starting to make its presence known are the slight green apple fruit that I’m picking up, and the addition of some nice black pepper spice on the finish. That adds some needed texture to the flavor profile and helps keep it interesting in a way that malted barley usually doesn’t.
On Ice
Chewy actually warned me about this, and he was right — this gets a little bland on the rocks.
Most prominent at this point are two flavors: chocolate and coffee. Added in along the edges are some brown sugar, black pepper spice, vanilla, and a hint of apple. But those are all very much supporting characters for the darker and richer elements at the core.
As a sipping whiskey, on the rocks likely isn’t the vibe for this spirit. It performs much better neat. But these are all great elements that can theoretically make for a fantastic base for some cocktails.
Cocktail (Old Fashioned)
I’m a huge fan of a darker, richer, more chocolatey old fashioned. I think there’s more character in that end of the spectrum, and it tends to balance much better with the angostura bitters. And, thankfully, that’s exactly what we have here.
This is a cocktail where the depths of the bourbon, the richness of all that time in oak casks, is really on display. Those oaky characteristics, combined with a hint of black pepper spice on the finish, make a huge difference and make for a deliciously sippable old fashioned. I think, beyond the IBA ingredient list, this could use a twist of orange peel and a cherry, but otherwise it’s a delightful cocktail.
This is good, but I think I see some indications that we can make this much, much better.
Tiki Old Fashioned
In my review of Lemon Hart Rum, I discovered on their website a recipe for a cocktail they call an 1804 (in honor of the year of their founding). It’s basically a tiki old fashioned, and I actually think it works way better with this whiskey than it ever did with their rum.
Basically this is:
- 2 oz whiskey
- 1 oz Flaernum
- 2 dashes Elemakule Tiki Bitters
Add that all to a shaker with ice, shake well, and then serve over a single giant ice cube rock.
Was it any good? Well let me just say this: my wife hates whiskey, but she asked me to make one of these for her after I let her taste mine.
In the Lemon Hart rum version, there’s just too much charred brown sugar and molasses going on. But here the real star of the show are the baking spices from all that time these spirits spent in the barrel: nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and a hint of vanilla. That pairs deliciously with the falernum and the tiki bitters making for a spicy, sweet, and absolutely delicious cocktail.
It feels very fitting that this distillery of laid-back beachy vibes made a whiskey perfect for a tiki cocktail.
Fizz (Mule)
What I’m looking for in a good mule are two things: that the flavors balance out up front, and that there’s some new texture or interesting flavor component on the finish to keep things interesting.
This absolutely delivers on that first element. The dark chocolate and coffee elements in the flavor profile balance out perfectly with the bright and tangy lime juice and ginger beer to make for something that is well balanced and delicious.
I think the biggest issue I have here is that the softness from the malted barley is calming down the black pepper spice a little too much. I’d love a bit more kick to the finish, just some different texture in there that would really make a difference and take this to the next level. As-is this is good, but it can still be better.
Overall Rating
Let me start here: I absolutely love the vibe of the facility. Their location on Dock Street in Wilmington is fantastic, sporting full barrels of whiskey lining pretty much every wall and an open view of their copper pot and column stills in the back room. The staff is incredibly friendly, Chewy himself is a gregarious good time, and the local artwork on the walls is an awesome cacophony of color.
For this specific whiskey, I’m a huge fan of the darker and richer flavor components. Taken neat the combination is delicious, and it makes for some incredible cocktails (especially those that might be a little off the beaten path). There’s some sweetness and some depth here that makes it a solid choice either on its own or in a cocktail. I don’t think it works well on the rocks, but then again even Chewy himself says that’s something to avoid.
Given that the only place you can actually purchase this bottle is at their downtown distillery, I think the price is right. You get the experience and the whiskey all at once, and there’s plenty of depth here to experiment and find something interesting that works for you. It’s an absolutely worthwhile purchase.
| Wilmington Distillery Carolina Regulator Whiskey Produced By: Wilmington Distillery Production Location: UnknownClassification: Whiskey Aging: No Age Statement (NAS) Proof: 43% ABV Price: $56 / 750 ml   |
Overall Rating: 4/5
Chocolate and caramel notes with some delicious oaky spice make for a tasty whiskey that shines best on its own or in a cocktail (especially a tiki old fashioned!)