For another sophisticated experience, producer Jason Frye takes us to Wilmington, where he sampled handcrafted spirits at a distillery with a very interesting name.

- North Carolina has a long history with distilled spirits, from the colonial era whiskey rebellions to those mountain moonshiners [projector whirring] and their high-octane bootleg whiskey runners giving birth to NASCAR.

Here in Wilmington, End of Days Distillery is writing a new chapter on North Carolina's story of spirits.

Unlike the bootleggers of old, they've done away with the mason jars and the rotgut white lightning and they're taking a finer and classier approach to liquor.

From the distillery and tasting lounge, here in Wilmington's growing Cargo District, End of Days cooks up an outstanding line of spirits.

Co-owner and head distiller, Shane Faulkner works with two of his assistants to ensure that the recipes are just right, but everyone gets in on the affair.

Shane's wife works in the business, his son works in the business, and they've got an army of great people helping ensure that they make an excellent product, every time.

We are here with Beth Faulkner and we want to talk about what it is that makes this place so special.

Tell me a little bit about what you guys have.

- So here in 2024 we have 10 spirits.

- Wow.

- Almost all award-winning.

And then we have three ready to drink cocktails that are in cans.

- End of Days gin is the talk of the town.

Tell me why.

- A lot of gins are very polarizing.

They have one ingredient that just takes it all the way over here, all the way over there.

What we wanted to do is we took 14 different beautiful botanicals, lemongrass, citrus, this funny thing called a cupeb berry, which is basically a black peppercorn, gives you a nice little spicy finish on the end and it just is one of those gins that even people who don't like gins say, "I like this!"

[soft quirky music] - End of Days has a really impressive barrel resting and barrel aging program.

I understand that you're barrel resting rum and gin, but also bourbon, and that it's the first bourbon that's been legally made in New Hanover County since prohibition.

Tell me about that.

How special is that?

And talk about your barrel program.

- Out the beginning, we wanted to make sure that we really had a robust barrel resting and barrel aging program.

So our first line was the Castaway Series.

So we took our port of entry gin and our port of entry rum.

So those are those clear spirits, put 'em in new American oak barrels, let them sit and do their magic.

No additives, no preservatives, no spices, and really just that barrel resting process yields this amazing finish that takes that clear spirit and just definitely changes the profile completely.

- Inside is a great hangout, but outside you've got a great hangout as well.

You've got all these tables, but you've got a surprise, the concept kitchen here at End of Days.

Tell me about that.

- So our concept kitchen is a platform for culinary innovation.

It's meant to allow entrepreneurial and even established chefs to come in, showcase whatever they're wanting to show our guests.

It can be appetizers, it could be entrees, but something to elevate the experience for our customers.

So as you're enjoying that beautiful cocktail, we're learning about our spirits, we want you to also be able to kind of go on a culinary journey with these chefs.

- You've had Lawrence Barbecue down from Durham, you've had NC Oyster Company come down and shuck a dozen for folks.

Who else have you had down here that you guys have been excited about?

- There's been a lot, but one in particular would be Tee with Sap Lai.

She's a Laotian chef, and most people that came here, they didn't even know what Laotian food was.

So I love the fact that we had this chef here bringing this whole new culinary experience to our customers and they were blown away with the amazing food that she made.

- [Jason] End of Days.

Tell me about this name.

- This name came about with us sitting around a campfire with our friends and we noticed that quite frequently, people ended their sentence [flames crackling] and they said "At the end of the day..." And we thought about what a reflective statement that is.

You know, "at the end of the day" means something very different from maybe you and me or someone younger or older.

But we know that everybody, at the end of the day, wants to feel good about what they've done, they wanna enjoy time with people they love.

And you know, a lot of times that involves sipping something really good.

So at the end of the day, we want you to celebrate the day.

[relaxed jazz music] - End of Days Distillery is at 1815 Castle Street in Wilmington and they're open Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information give them a call at 910-399-1133 or check them out online at eoddistillery.com.