It began during Prohibition when the young, handsome Frank Ratcliff recognized a need within the community and sought to fill it. Okay, let’s face it, he was a bootlegger. Frank began to develop and deliver beverages that were in high demand. “Moonshine,” or spirits distilled mostly from corn in hidden stills located deep in the woods became popular as commercial production of whiskey ceased. To meet the needs of the community, Frank became an expert in all types of alcoholic beverages from homemade wines to moonshine to different versions of classic distilled spirits.

As Prohibition ended Frank settled into a more traditional role in a related business by opening a nightclub in downtown Charlotte, the Flamingo Supper Club. It was there he booked a young singer named Velma Corey. After five weeks they were married, and Frank turned his attention to becoming a family man. Frank and Velma lived a wonderful life for the next 27 years until he passed away in 1977. Velma told her son Del that “Daddy had buried something on their property, and we need to find it.”

In 1984, before the property was sold Del decided he had to dig deeper because earlier attempts to find the secret had failed. With the use of a crawler loader, he dug until he found the buried secret. As Del operated the loader, Velma directed him on where to dig. In the rich soil of Mecklenburg County, they found seven mason jars wrapped in aluminum foil. The seven jars held Frank’s legacy – recipes and knowledge he had gleaned from years of “meeting the needs of his customers and friends.”

Almost 30 years after their discovery they began to tell their story and began the process of getting a distillery licensed and operating in Mecklenburg County. So, this is the story of the seven jars and the history behind the business name, Seven Jars Distillery and Winery. The lesson learned from this experience is that “the best things in life are rarely easy to get. You have to make the effort, keep trying after you fail, try again….and again. Never give up. Just remember that Sometimes… You Have To Dig A Little Deeper.”

The Ava Gardner Trust is so happy to be partnering with their friends at Seven Jars. The Gardner family and the Ratcliff family have much in common! The Gardner family also had ties to bootlegging by supplying the ingredients needed for the stills and selling the spirits. Ava Gardner also enjoyed bourbon, having learned to drink bourbon with Mickey Rooney in the LA nightclubs of the forties such as the Coconut Grove. She continued to drink bourbon with husband number two, Artie Shaw, and with her last husband Frank Sinatra. When she was living abroad, visitors from the United States were always asked to bring American bourbon. In her later years she drank wine, both red and white, and she always loved champagne. The Ava Gardner Select Bourbon and the Ava Gardner Signature Wines, including the Celebration sparkling wine are great, and Ava would love them all!

The Seven Jars Distillery and Winery has produced a premium reserve bourbon, the Ava Gardner Select Bourbon, four Ava Gardner Signature Wines, and a superb sparkling wine, Celebration, for the Ava Gardner Trust. The bourbon is available at the Distillery in Charlotte, NC and online at Cask Cartel. It is also available in ABC stores across NC. If your ABC store does not have the bourbon in stock, they will special order it for you and are required to do so by law in NC. The wines are available in person or can be shipped from the Winery in Charlotte, NC. The wines are also available for in person sales at the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC and are available in select restaurants in Johnston and Mecklenburg Counties in NC.

Learn more at sevenjarsdistillery.com.