We are a two-person company. No employees, no fancy marketing budgets, no venture capital, angel funding or bank loans. No experience, really. Just two aspiring entrepreneurs with an idea and the dedication (or foolishness) to carry it from concept to reality.
After taking a long look at our lives, we decided to start a distillery because we live for good drinks and wanted to experience the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
After studying both rum production methods and federal, state and local regulations for years, we moved from our home in Chicago to Knightdale, near where the Lassiter family is originally from. We opened our doors in 2016, and the rest, as they say, is history. We released three rums in our first 18 months in business, and won four international spirits awards from acclaimed blind tasting competitions. We are small, but we are mighty!
With recent law changes in our state, we have also opened up our very own tiki bar right inside the distillery: The Cove on First!
Founder Story Rebecca Lassiter always dives in head first. When she realized halfway through her undergraduate degree that biochemistry was not the right path for her, she devoted herself to a new major (journalism and public relations), and quickly found a career path that combined her interests and expertise: media analytics. Four years into her career, she realized her passion for analytics would not be satisfied without more skills and challenges. She continued to work full time in Chicago while earning her master's degree in applied statistics, and pivoted in her career to focus on financial risk management just before completing her degree. After Rebecca met her husband, Gentry, they decided to dive in headfirst to entrepreneurship and community by opening a rum distillery 800 miles away in their newly-adopted hometown. Together, they moved across the country, and have built an international award-winning rum distillery in the heart of North Carolina, where they've also worked tirelessly to build up and improve their local community.
