Cultivated Cocktails Distillery & Tavern

A 1963 Cadillac sits mid-restoration; its silhouette is the icon on both house labels, Hazel 63 Rum and HWY 9 Gin. Hazel 63 was the first spirit they ever distilled, back when the family started the stills in Reynolds, the valley just outside downtown Asheville, in 2012. The tavern is at 161 Charlotte Hwy; the stills run at a separate production facility in Reynolds. HWY 9 Gin turns up in the Pistachio Gin Sour and the Asheville 75; W.T.H. Bourbon carries the W.T.H. Old Fashioned. Asheville Vodka runs through the Tropic Thunder, Fire and Ice, and Hippy Gypsy. The syrups are made in house too, including pistachio cherry, lavender, and a wasabi simple syrup in the Spring Fever. The Savvy Sangria’s recipe rotates by season. HWY 9 Gin and Hazel 63 Rum both took silver at the 2023 Bartender Spirits Awards, two of nine medals across the house line that year, alongside gold for the Asheville Ginger Cordial — the kind of detail that means more on a label than it does in the glass. In February, Reel Adams, the head distiller, and chef Joshua Rivenbark ran the first Cultivated Whisky Dinner, a limited-seating night. Comedy sets — Michael Halcomb, Peachy Tom, Garret McDonald — turn up on the same events calendar as weekly trivia. Ask for the rye if it’s on the list — aged more than seven years, it has never been distributed, and the distillery is the only place to find it.