Whiskey fans awaiting the long anticipated opening of the Brad Halling American Whiskey Ko. (AKA: BHAWK) can rejoice as the distillery restaurant and event space is ready to welcome in the Fort Liberty community. 

Celebrating a silent opening on Feb. 21, 2024, the staff have had months to perfect their craft as a full service bar, restaurant, gift shop, tourist destination and event venue. 

BHAWK was brought to life in Southern Pines by retired military couple SGM (Ret.) Brad Halling and COL, (Ret.) Jess Halling as a way for Brad to share the story of his life of military service and gratitude for the men he served with in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. 

Located at 175 Yadkin Road, the cocktail bar is open from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays and 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Sundays. 

Serving whiskey, cocktails, local beer, wine and soft drinks, patrons can enjoy an in house brewed cocktail featuring selections from the BHAWK Sergeant’s Valor Premium Whiskey line and the Madam Colonel Premium Spirits line. 

The crown jewel currently in stock at the BHAWK brewery is the Sergeant's Valor Gratitude, the first in the tribute series of premium whiskeys paying respect to the pilots and crew of Super 62, signifying the foundation of Brad’s story of gratitude. “A premium blend of hand-selected, straight bourbon whiskeys,” this offering is the best of blended bourbons and was selected personally by Brad.

“The key to this is actually that it says select. Select means that we didn't make it, it's not produced here, but we did blend it. So we've selected all the barrels. We have right now about 500 barrels in our rickhouse and those barrels are primarily coming out of Kentucky,” shared Brad. “In this first of the series of select bourbons, this has got three different mash bills and the bourbon is aged from about four and a half years and almost six years, so it’s a very mature bourbon. It’s a beautiful blend. It's got some really high rye in there with traditional high corn so it makes for a really nice, beautiful bourbon.” 

The second popular addition to the cocktail bar lineup is the Madam Colonel Pistachio Bourbon Cream. The offering is the result of Jess’s deployment overseas to Italy where she discovered her love of the flavor during a pistachio festival where she sent home a case of pistachio liqueur. According to Brad, it wasn’t until after she returned home that they opened the case to enjoy it and they were blown away with how great it was. 

“At that time we had no ideas of opening a distillery, but when we did, and we started talking to consultants, they talked about how popular sometimes these bourbon creams are and if we had a flavor profile that was unique, we might want to think about it. We knew immediately that we were gonna go to pistachio as soon as they said that, we both looked at each other and said ‘We know the perfect thing.’” shared Brad. “So we partnered up with a North Carolina company here called Mother Murphy's. They do flavoring for all kinds of different things. They worked with us and helped us develop this.” 

Having the pistachio flavor available has led to customers getting creative with the blend. 

“It is like a desert. We put it on ice cream here at the distillery with pistachio nuts. People are putting it in the coffee, there’s now a pistachio Irish bond that has occurred in the bar not that it's not on our menu but others have decided to do it,” shared Brad. 

Customers enjoying their drinks can also help themselves to the hand crafted menu featuring 

special offerings chosen to pair with the alcohol served. The Sergeant’s Valor Pairing for Two and The Madam Colonel Pairing Board for Two feature small bites chosen to highlight the Sergeants Valor portfolio. Other menu options include light plates, appetizers, and dinner options such as the stacked, crispy chicken sandwich. 

The restaurant portion of BHAWK is open during regular days of operation from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. 

Learn more about BHAWK and the full facility including experiences, their event space and their exclusive Club 62 membership on their website here.