Newly released Turning Point Bourbon is distilled in Kings Mountain. Kristen Wile/UP

Alex and Charlie Mauney, owners of Southern Artisan Spirits, started distilling spirits as a hobby. They made vodka, and crafted their own gin recipe. Nearly a decade ago, craft breweries started popping up, but there were very few craft distilleries in the state. So the Mauneys, known to many in the local beverage industry simply as “the twins,” found space in a former hosiery factory in their hometown of Kings Mountain. They released their first product, Cardinal Gin, nine years ago, and later a barrel-aged version of it.

“We always liked whiskey, so that was what we were shooting for,” Alex Mauney says. Whiskey, with the aging process, takes much longer and requires much more equipment to distill than gin. As Cardinal Gin gained popularity across the state and beyond—SAS just sent 10,000 bottles to Sweden—they prepared their distillery to make its first batches of whiskey.

Turning Point Rye made its debut two years ago, and a few weeks ago, the twins released their first bourbon, also called Turning Point. The mash bill is 60 percent corn, 20 percent rye, and 20 percent barley, and the bourbon is aged for two years in 53-gallon barrels. The barrels are important, Alex says; many craft distillers will use smaller, 25-gallon barrels to try and speed up the aging process.

” It doesn’t do justice to it; they’re trying to force age it,” he explains. “It picks up flavor but it doesn’t really age like bourbon does in a big barrel that’s sitting there for a couple years.”

The Turning Point bourbon is young but smooth for its age, with a toasty note on the nose. 30 barrels have been set aside to age longer, and will likely be released with four- and five-year age statements. The two-year release is 90 proof. The twins decided to bottle their bourbon at a higher proof because mixologists prefer it when mixing cocktails.

Compared to familiar brands, Turning Point learns more toward the flavor profile of Four Roses, and is a high rye bourbon. They’ve run into Julian Van Winkle, owner of Pappy Van Winkle bourbons, at food festivals, who tried to convince them to make a wheated bourbon. They stayed true to their own palates instead.

Turning Point is already available in Mecklenburg County ABC stores; the local commission agreed to sell the bourbon in all of its stores from the start. The bottles, which are hand-labeled mostly by the twins’ mom, are listed at $39.95 a bottle. The young bourbon is good on its own, but would be delicious in an old-fashioned. —Kristen Wile