Let's head to Zebulon where Rick Sullivan visited Olde Raleigh Distillery and met a passionate distiller, determined to bring quality small-batch bourbon to his hometown.

- So Olde Raleigh Distillery, located in downtown Zebulon.

we opened in January of 2021.

Originally, the plan was to be in Raleigh, but the challenge was that I had a very specific vision about what I wanted this place to be.

We want to have a very unique operation here but we wanted to have it in the heart of a community.

- [Rick] What Brandon McCraney wanted for Olde Raleigh Distillery was an entrance that opened into an impressive tasting room with an industrial feel, one that gets your attention.

- First and foremost, what you wanna know is that this is gonna be an experience.

And the second you walk in the door, I think you're gonna see that.

The stills behind me are gonna hit you right in the face.

Most likely there's gonna be another smell hitting your face and that might be our smoked Old Fashioneds, which is what we're known for.

It's an over-the-top cocktail that we sell here.

Next door, we got an event space.

- [Rick] Tours of Olde Raleigh Distillery go beyond a walkthrough of the facility.

- [Brandon] If you come in on a Saturday and have a tour, generally you're gonna be hosted by myself or my great team, and we're gonna have some fun in the back.

- [Rick] The back is where the barrels are kept and the blending takes place.

It's the final stop before the tasting begins.

- [Patron] Smells really good.

- [Brandon] First time drinking alcohol today, I call the first sip of throwaway.

You want to acclimate the senses because you're drinking high proof alcohol, right?

- [Rick] Olde Raleigh has a full bar serving spirits, beer, and wine.

It also offers direct-to-table food service from a nearby restaurant.

- That's good.

- [Rick] The entire operation from tasting room to the barrels in the back is all here at one location.

- Oh, look at that.

- Tastes good on Halloween.

- Whiskey hit me over a decade ago.

I got fascinated with the nuances of how whiskey is aged and matured.

As a whiskey blender and a blending operation, what we do here is I hand-select barrels from all over North America to create our product line.

So our flagship product is a a blended, straight bourbon whiskey and it can be found across the state of North Carolina.

And also we offer mail order shipping across the country, about 40 states - [Rick] Olde Raleigh Distillery keeps a variety of whiskeys in production.

Three of them, including the signature blend, were recently entered in the International Whiskey Competition in Las Vegas.

They all received accolades and collectively, they won the competition for best micro distillery.

So now that McCraney and company have the attention of whiskey lovers everywhere, there's some good and bad news.

- Oh my God, that is delicious.

Taste it, you will like it.

- The beauty about Olde Raleigh is that you're not going to experience the same thing twice.

And that might be also a frustrating part about Olde Raleigh for some folks.

You've got hundreds of other brands out there, which their mission is to replicate the same flavor profile over and over and over again.

That's not who we are here.

We wanna showcase quality, give you a really good bourbon or whiskey, but when that product's gone or that batch is gone, we start over again.

- [Rick] The good news is that even sold-out batches of Olde Raleigh Whiskeys can still often be had by the drink with an in-person visit to the distillery.

- Olde Raleigh Distillery is at 209 North Arendell Avenue, in Zebulon, and they're open every day except Monday.

For more information, give them a call at [919] 859-0101 or go online to OldeRaleighDistillery.com.