Charleston Needs: Mountain State Distillery

Mountain State Distillery is a small, boutique style micro-distillery located in the historic shopping district of Downtown Charleston, WV.  They are the first legal distillery within the city of Charleston.  They make, distill, blend and process different spirits from their own distillery.  Jeff opened this location for the sole intent of making moonshine – real backwoods corn likker, as authentic as you could get – so that’s what he set out to do.

The concept started in 1994 when a college friend and Jeff tried to come up with ways to make potent alcohol, but infuse some flavorings into it while it was in the distillation / condensing stage of the process.  College ended and life took him in other directions.

In 2007, he and his wife took a trip to Tennessee for a long weekend getaway, and he learned that the idea he had been working on since college was already happening in other areas.  This lit the fire that Jeff needed.

As a lifelong West Virginian, Jeff always wanted to be a business owner.  Most of the business comes from tourists which helps the local economy.  Customers have visited the tiny distillery from approximately 37 states, and at least 6 countries.  In April of 2020, due to the pandemic, they redistilled their entire inventory of Moonshine to produce hand sanitizer, which was donated to various groups, then simply gave it out to the general public during the shortage.  Jeff has realized his dream and welcomes you to come have a drink with him.