Walton's Distillery

Walton’s distillery is a craft distillery in North Carolina. It is a family-owned business. As a tribute to his family, owner and founder, Donald G. Walton Jr, names the products after his ancestors.

The distillery produces a number of well-known liquor, including;

· Corn whiskey

· Moonshine

· Bourbon

History

Donald G. Walton Jr. is the owner and founder of Walton Distillery. He is a native of Jacksonville, North Carolina. In his younger years, Walton lived in Kentucky. He developed an interest in the distillery business. He reviewed the records of the many distilleries that had been prohibited. As a hobby, he toured the distilleries in the state of Kentucky.

Walton returned to Jacksonville in1989 filled with ideas. He organized with state and federal agencies for a liquor license but faced many setbacks. His financial and personal affairs were not in order. He took a step back from the project and came back in 2005. He managed to form Walton’s Distillery Inc. and laid out plans for a craft distillery.

He continued to perfect recipes and develop a business plan. He merged some of the ideas he got from traditional distilleries in Kentucky. Construction began at a site beyond the Black Creek bank. The location was used by previous distilleries that operated illegally. They began construction in June 2013.

Staff

The people who work at Walton’s Distillery are very committed to their roles. Being a family business, they know it is their efforts that push the company. The staff at the distillery includes;

1. Donald G. Walton – Owner and President

2. Rick Dixon – Executive Vice President. He is also known as the “Grand Wazir”

3. Grey Walton – Vice President

4. Kristen Jones – Office Manager

5. Logan Schuster – Operations Assistant. He is also a distiller

6. Zack “Sheev” Thebeau – Operations Assistant and Distiller.

E. M. Walton’s Corn Whiskey

This was the first product from the distillery. The whiskey is made using 100% corn. They combine it with flash-aged toasted Appalachian oak chips. It is fermented for 2 months or more. This is to smoothen the spirit and distill the vanilla tones and caramel color.

Walton named it after his great grandfather. Raleigh ABC warehouse received the first pallet in April 2015.

The History of Moonshine

In the United States, making moonshine can be traced back to the colonial days. It gained popularity in the 1920s and 1930s when it became prohibited. It gained a huge demand since it was cheap and readily available. The industry grew to become extremely profitable.

Norwood Rochelle is Donald Walton’s cousin and moonshine connoisseur. He approached Walton just after the whiskey production was taking shape. Norwood proposed to Walton the idea of adding moonshine to their list of products.

For more than 50 years, Norwood had been illegally making moonshine. He had partnered with great moonshiners like Percy Flowers to perfect the craft. He wanted to bring his expertise to an enterprise that was legal.

The moonshine recipe is simple. Its ingredients are;

· Cornmeal

· Yeast

· Water

· Sugar

In addition to the recipe, Norwood also brought in a fan base. He is a well-known musician across the state and was a great asset to Walton’s distillery.

The cousins put their brains to work. They combined Norwood’s moonshine knowledge and Walton’s facilities. They made moonshine with a recipe that was 50 years old. They call it “Junior Walton’s Authentic Carolina Moonshine”, after their grandfather.

There is an article on the distillery’s website with all the information on how moonshine is made. It contains details of the history, pioneers, and devices used. It is “How Moonshine Works”

Products

The distillery produces many alcoholic options. The spirits from Walton’s Distillery are:

1. E.M Walton’s Corn Whiskey

2. Kitty Walton’s Apple Pie Moonshine

3. Junior Walton’s Carolina Moonshine

4. Mag Walton’s Peach Shine

5. Mag Walton’s Salted Caramel Moonshine

6. Junior Walton’s Pine Shine Colada

7. Junior Walton’s Premium Select

8. E.M. Straight Bourbon Whiskey

9. E.M. Walton’s Premium Salted Caramel

Recipes

Walton’s Distillery produces many alcoholic options. In an effort to increase its consumer base, the distillery has come up with various recipes. These can easily be made at home, using products from the distillery. Some of the well-known recipes are:

1. Appetizers

Mag’s peach, corn, and avocado dip

2. Main dishes

· Slow cooker peach barbecue ribs

· Whiskey cheddar burgers

· Backwoods Crockpot Barbeque

· Kitty’s apple seared pork chops

· Thai coconut dish

· Whiskey sirloin steak

3. Sides

· Sticky rice with pine shine sauce

· Apple shine carrot side

4. Desserts

· Chocolate whiskey pecan monkey bread

· Kitty Walton’s apple shine ala mode

· Junior’s Authentic vanilla extract

· Shiney caramel apple turnovers

· Peaches and cream layered jello recipe

· Pine shine cupcakes

5. Drinks

· Whiskey fruit smoothie

· Mag Walton’s peach tea

· Kitty’s warm cider

· Peach shine lemonade

· Kitty Walton’s apple tea

· Junior’s turbo V-8

· Junior’s Moon-Garita

· One Shiney screwdriver

· Walton’s whiskey sour

· E.M Walton’s old fashioned

· Walton’s candy apple

· Pineapple sunshine smoothies

Open House Events

Open House Events

The distillery holds many open house events. They take visitors around the facility, showing them how everything works.

The events are held on a Saturday of each month. It is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission, lunch, and activities are offered for free.

Visitors are allowed to sample from the distillery. Only those above the age of 21 can sample. You must provide identification before sampling anything at the distillery.

Holidays

The distillery business traces back centuries. There are some calendar days observed at Walton’s Distillery. These are;

· International Whiskey Day

· World Whiskey Day

· National Moonshine Day

· National Bourbon Day

Walton's Online Store

Walton’s online store has numerous branded products. All the items sold at the store are branded with the distillery’s logo. Some of the products sold are;

· Coffee mugs and cups

· Liquor flasks

· Assorted bar signs

· Bumper stickers

· Burlap shine bags

· Cookin’ with Walton’s cookbook

Walton’s distillery began as the dream of one man. He realized it with the help of his family and gave tribute to them. The family-owned business has grown to produce a large amount of the total alcohol in North Carolina.

Author: ENC Explorer

After getting accepted to ECU, I started looking for things to do in and around Greenville, NC. However, my searches kept taking me to places in South Carolina! There must be things to do around ECU, so I started asking other students. They kept telling me to graduate and move away! This inspired me to begin exploring eastern North Carolina and build this website as a showcase of the places to go, sights to see, and things to do all over eastern NC. I have fallen in love with this region and started taking up roots here. After graduating, I didn't move away - I bought a house here and continue to explore eastern North Carolina.