Conviction Small Batch Bourbon is distilled, aged and bottled by Southern Grace Distilleries in an old NC prison. The first bottles were released November 2017. The barrel strength bourbon has won multiple gold medals including a double gold and is now distributed well beyond North Carolina.
In less than six months, Conviction Small Batch Bourbon has already expanded from NC, SC and Washington, DC to LA, OK, CT, NJ and southern IL.
"We are so pleased to now be distributed outside the Carolinas," said Southern Grace Distilleries CEO Leanne Powell. "Getting the first order was thrilling, but the reorders are telling us that customers truly love Conviction."
Conviction Small Batch Bourbon is aged in 10 and 15 gallon barrels for eight to twelve months in a prison dorm built in 1927. It won double gold at the Fifty Best Bourbons competition in NYC and was recently featured at the New Orleans Bourbon Festival.
Reviews have been very good. The Whiskey Reviewer said, "On the nose, this young bourbon was full of raw oak, vanilla fudge and chocolate-covered cherries. It was, on the whole, very candy-ish, and a lovely ensemble of aromas for any whiskey, but especially for one with only 8 months in the barrel. Breaking it with ½ teaspoon of water brought out some caramel in the chocolate tones as well as some very low grassy notes. The mouthfeel was bold, at the roof of the mouth and front of the tongue. The finish was of leather and coffee. And more coffee, with dark burnt sugar and bundt coffee cake. It was an unusual finish and fairly long. This young bourbon, straight out of 'Whiskey Prison,' is a very nice sipper."
Southern Grace Distilleries, known as Whiskey Prison, was founded in 2014 and is located in a former North Carolina state prison in Cabarrus County, NC, located about 25 minutes northeast of Charlotte. Southern Grace Distilleries is the first distillery in the US located in a former prison.