Outer Banks Distilling — Local services in Manteo

If you like local liquors and especialy rum.....stop here! We were doing a late night walk through Manteo and knew this was here, but not exactly where. We were in the local candy store where they sold rum balls among other things. The proprietor of the candy shop gave us directions and told us the distillery closed at 7. It was 6:39 PM. We finished our purchases and started the 5 minute walk. When we arrived, the distillery was empty but the proprietor came running through the distillery to greet us and let us know the candy shop owner had alerted him we were on our way. We tasted the three rums mentioned in various other reviews and settled on the honey pecan while others in our party purchased the silver - very smooth and soft on the palate. The proprietor asked us to come to the bar area for custom cocktails and we each had one. I had the chai cider with the honey pecan rum and it was AMAZING!!! I wish we had more time to spend there, but they were wonderful, gracious and accommodating. They did not have to stay open for us, but they did. The rum is...

Not your usual distillery where you only get to sample the wares and learn about how booze is made. Instead, more of a distillery/bar combo where the drinks are made with the distillery's Kill Devil rum. The cocktails that we tried showed real artistry with house-made ingredient like peanut milk, coconut cream and tepache. I mentioned to the owner that I had tried making tepache several times without success, and he took time to give me lots of tips and tricks (which I have yet to try). I highly recommend the Jamaican Caucasian (coffee-based) and the Devil Killer (a tiki drink). And you can even get the cocktails to go in a stadium cup! Very friendly folks and a super-nice beachy atmosphere. Be sure to buy some souvenier rum to go since the stuff is really hard to find elsewhere (several local ABC stores told me that hadn't had any to sell for many months.

A must-stop on...

This time to OBX we stayed in Kill Devil Hills. The story goes that Blackbeard had rum buried in the sand dunes of the area so strong it could kill the devil - hence the name - Kill Devil Hills. While in Manteo we learned that there is still rum - Kill Devil Hills Rum made at Outer Banks Distilling in the town we were in - Manteo. We found the distillery, went in and had a few samples followed by bringing some of the rum back home with us. The ingredients of this rum is pure without refined sugar added. It is very good. I also picked up some local honey used in one of their rums. It was great talking to the person who was serving the samples and was also the "main guy" at the distillery. The inside is a fun environment. And, there is a bar where you can get drinks made with...