Date/Time
Date(s) - February 13, 2025
4:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Sandy River Distillery
Categories
Sandy River Distillery
Sandy River Distillery is a family-owned craft distillery specializing in small batch, single barrel, quality drinks using locally sourced ingredients. Sandy River Distillery successfully opened the doors in 2021 as the first legal distillery in Prince Edward County, VA. We are open every day from 9AM-5PM for bottle sales!
Owners Mark and Candice Smith both grew up in Saint Maarten, a 36 sq mile island in the East Caribbean, where they initially met and bonded over their love for travel and adventure. They have been able to experience countless different cultures with their own traditions when it comes to distilling spirits. Their love for travel and adventure and taste of food and drink, have led them to honor each culture, with the spirits that derive from each country they visit. The shipping containers on our property represent exploration of the places we’ve been, representing the imports and exports of the world’s diversity and what better way than by taste of spirits. We are striving to bring unique spirits to the heart of Virginia, test the boundaries of traditional products, create and import any and all that taste delectable.
The Tasting Room
Restoration of this 1840s Virginia log cabin is complete. This little piece of history is the home of our Tasting Room at Sandy River Distillery. This charming cabin was moved from its original location in Charlotte County Court House, Virginia, and assembled back to its original glory.
The Tradition & Craft
In the height of Prohibition, illegal production of moonshine was widespread in Virginia because of the rich farmland and secluded mountain ranges. Prince Edward, along with the surrounding counties, was built around farming and agriculture which provided us the one single ingredient that makes the taste of American Bourbon so distinctive: CORN.
Dating back to 1620, a man from England named George Thorpe may have been the first to distill what we now know as American whiskey. He found that the European barley would not grow well in the American climate, thus leading him to experiment with corn that was given to him by local Native Americans. He wrote in a letter to John Smyth, his business partner, “soe good drinke of Indian corne” that at times was even better than “good stronge Englishe beare.”