Hard Times Distillery

If you appreciate ‘built from the ground up’ and people working with passion & persistence, Hard Times is worth your time. Dudley is a distilling mechanic in the finest sense. His approach of local sourced ingredients and creating a quality handcrafted spirit from grain-​to-​glass is inspiring to witness first hand. Deep bow in Dudley’s general direction.

I had read about Hard Times Distillery and finally got the chance to stop in. We were greeted by a customer as he was leaving and he told us that we would not be disappointed.
The tasting room is not much to talk about. However, it’s not the tasting room that should be the star anyways but what one is tasting.
The worker was in the back on his laptop, he must have gone straight there from helping the customer that greeted us. He did not even acknowledge our presence and we could not get his attention. He never once that we could tell looked up from his laptop. We finally left, our money still in our pocket and not in their till.
I would say I was very disappointed. No service. However, I know this can’t always be true since the customer before us had his bottle in his hand.
I hope your experience is better than ours.

Moonshine, anyone? Luckily, these spirits are not made in a bathtub ~
They make a few different spirits: «Sweet Baby Moonshine», Wasabi flavored vodka, and «Sugar Momma sipping vodka» — made with cane sugar (very unusual for vodka). All of ‘em pack a punch; the wasabi vodka had a nice bite and didn’t blow out my taste buds. Just the right balance of flavor and heat.
Free tastes with I.D. and you can even take a short tour if you’d like. If you’re passing thru Monroe or in the neighborhood and want something stronger than beer or wine, plan to stop in for a taste & buy a bottle or two.