During a workshop that preceded Monday’s Ellijay City Council meeting, members of the council heard a presentation from the proprietors of a liquor distillery being built in the north end of the county.
Caroline Porsiel and James Sturgeon addressed the council, giving updates on the progress of White Path Creek Distillery.
Porsiel, the business’ president, said the facility will specialize in making apple brandy, schnapps and fruit liqueurs. It will be “similar to what is currently built in Germany,” she added.
“It (uses) technology that would enable us to produce the highest quality of spirits. It’s not a moonshine distillery or a whiskey distillery. It’s brandy. There are not a lot of fruit distillers around. Fruit distilling is actually the oldest form of distilling there is,” noted Porsiel in her presentation.
Sturgeon, White Path Creek’s CEO, said the distillery site is on his Old Northcutt Road property where an event center for weddings and other functions is also located.
Porsiel said the company has applied for federal licensing from the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau), but will not be able to finish the process until the building construction is complete.
“They said it’s just a formality. We will reapply once we have the property finished,” she said.
Sturgeon said they want to have the distillery finished this year.
“The still is supposed to be in (by) August. The building would be done quick if we could stop the rain. We also have to apply for the state (license). I’ve talked to the state people and they said they would come out and inspect the building. We wanted to bring it to y’all so we could get the ordinances put in place and (see) what y’all want us to do. We want to do it right from the get-go so there’s no hiccups,” he told councilmembers Sandy Ott, Al Fuller, Tom Crawford, Kevin Pritchett and Katie Lancey.
The city has licensing ordinances in place for breweries and wineries, but not distilleries, noted Mayor Al Hoyle.
“We’ve looked at a distillery ordinance in the past with a different council. We looked at it, but never ironed everything out. We’ll get back on it,” he said.
In other news ...
Councilmembers approved an on-premise consumption license for beer, wine and distilled spirits for Kasei Sushi and Sake, located at 10 River Street.