The foreclosure auction to see who will get the property that’s housed Elevated Mountain Distilling Company since 2016 has ended with Kenneth Wells of Key West, Florida coming away with the top bid of $630,000.

The foreclosure auction for Maggie Valley’s beloved Elevated Mountain Distillery kicked off on May 24, and although it could have been over quickly if there was no interest, it’s still ongoing with three bidders intent on one-upping each other. 

The building housing Elevated Mountain Distilling Company, a fixture in Maggie Valley for over five years, is facing foreclosure and the bids have already started pouring in as interested parties jockey to see who will end up with the property.

By Boyd Allsbrook • Contributing writer | There were many things I expected to experience as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic — stress, isolation, illness, etc. Absent from that list was what I had the pleasure of tasting this weekend — quite simply, the finest liquor I’ve ever waxed poetic about. 

After years of languishing in the shadows of a shuttered amusement park, Maggie Valley’s west end is now seeing substantial commercial development resulting in several major new or renovated businesses. 

Last weekend may have been a little bitter for BearWaters Brewing’s owners Art O’Neil and Kevin Sandefur, but it was also a little sweet. 

Tuesday, March 17 started like almost any other day for Dave Angel, owner of Elevated Mountain Distilling Company in Maggie Valley. 

Think about it like this — your buddy owns a factory that makes widgets and he can sell as many widgets to his customers as they want to buy, but your factory makes a slightly different version of that widget and state law prohibits you from selling more than five widgetlets to any customer in any given year. 

For all of its bluster and bikers and bling in the summertime, Maggie Valley can be one sleepy little town in the winter.

Traditionally, many businesses in the tiny settlement close during the off-season, a habit no doubt acquired during the heyday of Ghost Town in the Sky, the mountaintop amusement park that since 1965 closed every winter as well, until it closed for good a few years ago.

Dave Angel hasn’t wasted any time becoming part of the Maggie Valley community and in return, they’ve welcomed Haywood County’s first distillery with open arms.

Elevated Mountain Distilling Company, located in the former Carolina Nights Dinner Theater building on Soco Road, opened Memorial Day weekend, and has had hundreds of visitors a week ever since. It is the first craft distillery to open in the counties west of Buncombe.