An Ellijay distillery remains without a license to operate after the city council neither approved nor denied an application for a new license.
The microdistillery license application came before the Ellijay City Council during a Monday, July 18, meeting at City Hall. The brandy manufacturer had been known as White Path Distillery, but the new application was submitted under the name DB Distillery.
James Sturgeon, who owns the distillery property on Old Northcutt Road, told Mayor Al Hoyle and councilmembers Sandy Ott, Tom Crawford, Katie Lancey, Al Fuller and Kevin Pritchett that his son, Ferril, previously operated the distillery, but not anymore. Police Chief Ed Lacey said that caused the distillery’s previous license, which was under Ferril Sturgeon’s name, to become void.
Now that his son is not operating the distillery, Sturgeon said his brother, David Bland, would be running it if a new license is obtained. Sturgeon said he helped start the distillery so his son could get started in a business of his own.
“I made sure all the taxes were paid, everything was paid on time and his records were kept up. I would give him advice to help him because I’ve owned several successful businesses,” he added.
Lacey told the council the distillery is currently being investigated by the Georgia Department of Revenue to determine whether or not a “straw man” situation is in place.
“In other words, you have one person who, for whatever reason, is either unwilling or unable to get a distillery license and is using another person to obtain a license. That is currently being investigated by the state as to whether that is the case or not,” Lacey said.
“It was not a straw man operation. (My son) paid me rent and paid me a weekly salary. The bank statements will show that,” Sturgeon said.
In a public hearing that preceded the council meeting, members of Northcutt Baptist Church, also on Old Northcutt Road, voiced opposition to the distillery continuing to operate. The church is concerned about the increased amount of traffic and noise, noted pastor Harold Willis.
“Old Northcutt Road won’t handle much more traffic. It’s narrow, and it’s crooked. And, too, we’re morally opposed to the distillery being there,” Willis said.
Bland said most of the traffic and activity come from an event center also on the White Path property, not the distillery itself.
“We do wedding venues, and we allow music festivals. We rent our venue out. The distillery traffic is not hardly what that is on a weekend,” he added. “Most of the traffic in large quantities comes from other events. Just like any wineries around here.”
Sturgeon told the council the distillery and event center have become destinations for the City of Ellijay.
“People were driving from Florida coming to the distillery and renting (the center) out for venues. We’ve had one of the busiest years for venues and concerts coming in,” he added.
Emuel Sanford, former Northcutt Baptist pastor, said he’s concerned about more tractor trailers using the narrow road and the amount of product the distillery might produce.
“When you talk about the word industrial, that’s volume. That’s manufacturing. Are we zoned for industrial on Northcutt Road?” he asked.
“If you’ve ever tried to get across the road there at that intersection at Northcutt, you better be careful,” Sanford added. “There is a volume of traffic that comes off the interstate and somehow GPS has got them messed up. They come all the way around to Northcutt Road and back to the interstate almost to get to where the distillery is. A tractor-trailer could get hung up if they leave Northcutt Road into their driveway. That’s going to impede traffic.”
Bland noted that tractor trailers have previously accessed the site without problem.
“We’ve got a lowboy we use to move stuff around with, and we’ve never had issues. We built every structure down there. Everything came in with tractor-trailers,” he said. “The only issue we’ve had was one time somebody was scared to pull down there. No one ever got stuck or had any collisions.”
When the item came up for voting during the council meeting, no motions were made for or against granting the microdistillery license, which means the agenda item died per lack of a motion.
Hoyle said, under state law, a licensed distillery can be “a tasting room, they can sell it at retail and they can be a wholesaler.” As of now, the distillery is not properly licensed for any of those uses, Lacey noted.
The White Path Creek Farms Wedding and Event Venue does not have its own alcohol license, and third parties who rent it out must apply for special event permits to sell alcohol, Lacey noted. The distillery being unlicensed does not affect that, he added.
Sturgeon said he hopes to get the distillery license application included on next month’s council meeting agenda.