Fans of local craft spirits can look forward to a new collaboration between two local entities as Nippitaty Distillery teams up with Cannon Distillery for a focus on craft, small-batch alcohol. Featured in Nippitaty’s tasting room in Park Circle which opened in 2021, Cannon’s presence in the space will see it pivot to a lounge that features the two distilleries and much more.
Nippitaty owner Traxler Littlejon and Kris Kincaid, who owns Cannon Distillery, recently teamed up to feature lesser-known and small-batch spirits. “[It’s the] idea of, let’s try to get people in the habit of going to cocktail bars and asking for actual craft-made distillery products, not Absolut or Tito’s,” Kincaid said.
The new concept for the Nippitaty space came about because of Cannon’s current transition from its old space into a new location on James Island, which is expected to open in 2024. Until then, the pop-up at Nippitaty allows customers to enjoy Cannon’s offerings alongside Nippitaty’s.
“We basically just decided that he has a kitchen there already and with the new laws he’s allowed to get a liquor license and sell any anybody’s alcohol that he wants in cocktail form, so we decided to partner up and turn this place into a more of a cocktail bar feel that focuses on local craft-made or even nationally craft-made products,” Kincaid said.
“Traxler and I go pretty far back five, six, seven years,” he added and mentioned how the two would help each other out in the past. “Just little things, like, ‘Hey, can I borrow your label maker’ or ‘I need a piece of equipment that you have — can I borrow it?’ We’ve always had a good working relationship but this is the first time we’ve actually said ‘Let’s kind of put our two things together and make something cool out of it.’”
While the current partnership features Nippitaty and Cannon spirits, Littlejohn and Kincaid hope to expand and add all kinds of craft-made alcohols to the menu for truly one-of-a-kind drinks. “Whatever the spirit kind of wants to be is what we’re going to do. We’re not stuck to margaritas or old fashioneds. We have a great cocktail team, and we kind of do what we want with it.”
In addition to liquor and cocktails, the space also serves beer and wine, and several food pop-ups are currently in the works. Fans of Nippitaty can still snag full bottles of spirits at the Park Circle location too.
Nippitaty Distillery is open 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
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