Distiller seeks to sell its shine.

• Position: Western

Though demand for their booze is booming, the owners of Asheville Distilling Co. have discovered that trying to change distribution laws that date to the end of Prohibition is enough to drive a person to drink. A few years after Troy and Charlie Ball moved there in 2004 from Austin, Texas--the mountain climate better suited their two sons who have respiratory problems--friends let them sample "keeper" whiskey, the best of an illegal hatch that's too tasty for a moonshiner to sell. Intrigued by the commercial possibilities, Troy researched recipes and contracted with John McEntire, the owner of a seventh-generation family farm just outside the city, to provide the corn. The Balls even installed the 2,000-liter still they bought from a German company in a barn on his farm.

But before cooking the first run, there were legal hoops to jump through. Though North Carolina is famous for "blockade" whiskey, the high-proof hooch that's made clandestinely, it hadn't had a legal liquor-maker since the early 1900s until Piedmont Distillers Inc. opened in 2005 in Rockingham County. After getting necessary permits from the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, Asheville Distilling became the first one in the mountains when it began making Troy & Sons brand Platinum Moonshine in 2010. There are now nine distilleries in the state.

Two years ago, Asheville Distilling moved from the barn to a former Southern Railway warehouse in town, where the operation has grown from 2,300 to 8,000 square feet, with 4,000 more to be added this year. A 5,000-liter still recently replaced the original, which could make only enough to fill 400 750-milliliter bottles a day. The new one can produce three to four times that, and the additional capacity is needed. The distillery shipped 5,000 cases its first year and...