Asheville Brewing opens distillery, teams with Little Jumbo cocktail bar founder to develop spirits line as more brewers turn to distilling

Ninja Spirits is the name of the new South Slope distillery, which plans to launch a line of ready-to-drink canned and bottled cocktails

Asheville Brewing Company has opened a distillery called Ninja Spirits and plans to develop a line of bottled and canned cocktails under The Buckminster Cocktail Co. brand./ photo courtesy of Asheville Brewing

This story sponsored by Citizens Fuel Co., a family-owned Asheville company.

Asheville Brewing Company, one of Asheville’s oldest craft breweries, has opened a distillery and partnered with a local leader on the craft cocktail scene to develop canned and bottled cocktails. The move follows a trend of craft brewers moving into distilling as tastes change and North Carolina alcohol laws are modernized.

The distillery is Ninja Spirits. (The “ninja” in the name is a nod to Asheville Brewing’s beloved beer, the Ninja Porter.) A brand called The Buckminster Cocktail Co. will fall under the Ninja Spirits umbrella and encompass the ready-to-drink cocktails. (The “Buckminster” references famed architect, inventor and philosopher Buckminster Fuller, who taught at Black Mountain College in the late 1940s.)