Charleston West Side developers get into the spirits
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The magic is in the cave, Tighe and John Bullock trust.
Tighe and his father, John, learned of its existence near Renick on the Greenbrier-Pocahontas county line. A geological engineer, John Bullock thought a distiller could use that water to churn out some fine spirits.
Tighe (pronounced “Ty”) had a more direct thought. “Why don’t we just do it ourselves, dad?” he asked the patriarch. So, like many things in the Bullocks’ world, the son just took a leap.
Come Dec. 18, the back room of 121 W. Washington St. no longer will be a place to tinker and experiment for Tighe Bullock and distillers Adam Anderson and Scott Ferris. That’s when The Bullock Distillery opens for business, culminating a few years of building equipment, trying new mash blends and procuring barrels and bottles.
“This has been great, because a still is sexy and cool to build,” Tighe Bullock said. “It uses science and math and a lot of gritty work. My dad and I are both good spatial thinkers.”
Distilling is in the family blood. In 1800s North Carolina, the Bullocks’ Uncle Charles combined distilling turpentine for ship sealing and liquor for drinking. Out of two separate stills, we assume.
Then there’s the cave, between the Greenbrier mountains to the east and Spring Creek Mountain on the west. It and the supporting land comprise 80 acres. Several layers of limestone filter the water.
“That water is invaluable,” John Bullock intones. “It draws from the roots of Droop Mountain.”
Its price tag suggests its preciousness. From a modest facility on the West Side, the Bullocks have some $1 million invested in the distillery and land.
COVID-19 influenced the pace of The Bullock Distillery. A few years ago, Tighe Bullock discovered...