Of course, Asheville is famous for its beer scene, but we found a local distillery called Cultivated Cocktails with a new casual tasting room, offering food, games, and their own handcrafted spirits.

Let's check it out.

[upbeat music] - Cultivated Cocktails is first and foremost a small family business, the reality of something, a dream that we wanted, coming true.

So the bigger picture here is that we, as a family, are successful, family-friendly, but also a sustainable icon within the community, for a long time, and so that's the goal.

- We started Cultivated Cocktails as H&H Distillery back in 2012.

I'd went to a craft distillery and looked at it, and I was like, "Oh, I can do that, I know how to automate that."

And then I called up my cousin, and we, "Hey, let's open this distillery, start a distillery."

Our first product wasn't available until 2016, and then in 2019, we knew the laws were changing, so we secured a spot downtown where we could sell more than one bottle per person per year and opened up a bigger space in '21, and then we saw this opportunity here where we could have our own food, a bigger venue, more entertainment, more production space, so January '23, we secured this place, and now that's kinda where you see it.

It feels like more home here where we've got everything that we need.

- So what we try to do is create luxury, quality spirits that are affordable everyday prices for people, so you can have a really good quality vodka that is your go-to, it's unique, it's special, it's got a story behind it, it's not produced by some mass-market brand, it's locally produced by a person, like me or my team, that you can actually meet and interact with.

Our main products that we'll have out at all times are rum, we have two gins, a vodka, and a line containing four liqueurs.

We also have rotating seasonal and rare batch spirits we produce as well, like a lot of our whiskeys, those are kind of one-off programs where we'll do 300 or 400 bottles at a time.

We make a variety of different seasonal liqueurs for Christmas, and things like that.

So at any given time, we have between 9 and about 15 products on the market.

- I am drinking the fall, y'all [laughs].

It's like a apple cider-based drink, it's really refreshing and light.

We love hanging out here.

For the longest time, here, we didn't have anything like this.

The food is always on point, and drinks are always super good and enjoyable as well.

- We're trying to create an atmosphere to where a wide range of people will come in, and everybody will be able to find something that they enjoy on the menu.

We'll have a mussels dish, we'll have some nice scallop appetizers, upscale smash burgers.

The distillery, it's top notch, and I want to try and blend some of the spirits that they are distilling with the food, and kind of make a perfect marriage there.

- I'm super excited about the new menu coming out.

So I think it'll be more of a bar style type of food, which I appreciate.

I feel like this place is very welcoming, it's lively, everyone here is super friendly.

It's always just a good time just to hang out with friends and family.

Everything just seems very chill here.

That's what I like about it.

- Not only is it my dad and myself, so my wife, Leah, is involved, she's been involved since 2016, she kinda runs the show here, and then I've got my son, he runs around, he talks to more customers than I do, and he gets involved and interacts with all of them.

So yeah, we keep it at all in the family, as much a family affair as possible.

- The guests should really be able to walk in here and feel completely relaxed.

Come as you are, and just come hang out.

It should be something that people can easily do after work, or before a baseball game, or before a Christmas party, or what have you, so we really just want everybody to feel welcome.

[energetic music] - Cultivated Cocktails is at 161 Charlotte Hwy, Unit A, in East Asheville.

And they're open Daily.

Plan your visit with a call to 828-338-9739 or go online to cultivatedcocktails.com.