Soldier of the Sea
CAES alumni-owned distillery and pub supports local agriculture and creates community in Comer, Georgia
“If you ever need someone to help with bartending at the pub, just give me a call and I’d be happy to come over one night and help out.”
This was the parting offer from local landscaper Craig Kellogg to the owners of Soldier of the Sea Distillery, Mark Davis and Jennifer Berry, at the close of a discussion about future plans for a patio and outdoor space at their newly opened distillery in Comer, Georgia.
Davis, a 1981 graduate of the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), and Berry, a CAES researcher, recently established Soldier of the Sea Distillery, a craft venture specializing in hand-forged whiskeys and bourbons made with regionally sourced honey and grain.
Soldier of the Sea currently offers three spirits: Moon Nectar, a corn whiskey; Sea Duty, a whiskey with a nod to U.S. Naval tradition; and Spirit Tree, a bourbon whiskey fermented with tree-derived honey. Their pub, The Hive, adjoins the distillery itself and is open Thursday through Saturday serving traditional cocktails such as an old fashioned, whiskey sour and Kentucky mule.
Since the distillery’s grand opening on Jan. 27, Davis and Berry have seen an outpouring of support from the local community who want to experience the town’s first-ever pub.
“That’s been the most fun part of the entire process of seeing the distillery become a reality — seeing the way that the community gathers around you when you’re doing something new,” Berry said. “We’ve felt so embraced and welcomed because people here are excited to see what we’re doing and want to be a part of it.”
The couple said a welcoming atmosphere and community-building mission, combined with creating premium spirits that honor America’s military veterans, was the goal when formulating their business plan. Their commitment to the local community encompasses all they do, including sourcing ingredients for the whiskey itself.
“All of our suppliers, from the ones right here in Madison County to others we work with across the Southeast, started as simply that — suppliers and connections,” Davis said. “Now we consider them friends and we’re invested in helping them succeed in their work to make a living and feed others.”
While the barley and rye needed to make their whiskeys are not readily available in Georgia, Davis and Berry source locally wherever possible, including organic corn and wheat grown by DaySpring Farms in Madison County and honey from Booger Hill Bee Company in Danielsville.
Berry and Davis at home with their dogs
Berry and Davis at home with their dogs
With a virtually nonexistent environmental footprint — all of the distillery’s byproducts are used by local farmers to feed their livestock — Soldier of the Sea is committed to creating long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships within the agricultural community in the area and beyond.
“I didn’t grow up on a farm, but in my small hometown in Virginia agriculture was a huge part of our lives,” Davis said.
“I always knew I was interested in and enjoyed agriculture, and once I learned about the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia, I knew there was nowhere else I wanted to go to college.”
Davis and Berry gather with the community at the distillery's ribbon cutting on Jan. 27.
Davis and Berry gather with the community at the distillery's ribbon cutting on Jan. 27.
After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Davis came to Georgia, where his mother grew up, to enroll at CAES under the GI Bill. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1981, shortly after he witnessed UGA win their first national championship at the 1980 Sugar Bowl. After graduation, Davis returned to the Marine Corps where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. Even after returning to civilian life, Davis continued to serve his country through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
Berry took a more circuitous route to connecting with CAES, where she has a career as a researcher and lab manager for the UGA Bee Program. A theater arts major at Texas A&M University, Berry spent her early career as an actress and stand-up comedian, eventually trying her hand at comedy in Los Angeles.
“When I realized comedy wasn’t the right career path for me, I returned to school and ended up taking an entomology course — I fell in love with the subject and decided to come to the University of Georgia because of their world-renowned entomology program,” Berry said.
Berry, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in entomology from CAES, is pursuing her doctoral degree studying with entomology Department Head Kris Braman.
While she discovered entomology by chance, Berry was never a stranger to whiskey and bourbon. Born in California, Berry moved around the U.S. frequently as a child due to her family’s ties with the U.S. Air Force, but she has always had deep ties to the whiskey industry through her family’s origins in Owensboro, Kentucky.
“My family owned E.C. Berry Distillery in Owensboro back in the day. As a child, I remember that there was frequently a bottle of bourbon on the dinner table, so Mark and I deciding to pursue opening our own distillery wasn’t really too foreign an idea to me,” Berry explained.
Soldier of the Sea whiskey served up at The Hive pub
Soldier of the Sea whiskey served up at The Hive pub
Berry with fellow comedians in Los Angeles
Berry with fellow comedians in Los Angeles
Berry's research at UGA has addressed queen breeding, improving honey bee health, IPM techniques, pesticides on beneficial insects, and enhancing pollinator populations and diversity. (Submitted photo)
Berry's research at UGA has addressed queen breeding, improving honey bee health, IPM techniques, pesticides on beneficial insects, and enhancing pollinator populations and diversity. (Submitted photo)
The E.C. Berry Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, circa 1874 (Image from the David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries)
The E.C. Berry Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, circa 1874 (Image from the David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries)
In partnership with the UGA Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Davis and Berry were able to determine the best steps forward for their new business in terms of funding, business strategy and marketing opportunities. Davis credits David Stob, the SBDC’s Athens business consultant, with helping them formulate and implement a sound, successful business plan.
“After I was able to convince my wife that I wasn’t crazy for wanting to do this,” Davis joked, referring to Berry, “the Small Business Development Center was a key part of our path forward. This service that UGA provides is incredible and we are very grateful. With Soldier of the Sea, we were breaking a lot of new ground with our business. David was able to keep us from falling into trouble where we might have.”
What started as a business plan scratched out on a piece of paper has blossomed into a full-formed reality with Soldier of the Sea Distillery. Davis and Berry are proud of the work they have done so far and are excited about the future, with their main focus on staying true to their original missions: to honor all branches of the American military, to support local agriculture in tangible ways, and to promote the protection of pollinators that make their whiskeys possible.
“It was important to know what was important to us because we believe that everyone can do something to support causes they care about,” Davis said. “For us, we care about the military, agriculture, pollinators and making good whiskey — opening Soldier of the Sea is how we’re doing something about those things.”
With two new whiskeys soon to be released, it’s clear that this is just the beginning for Soldier of the Sea. “We are a small distillery and plan to stay that way. Everything from making the whiskey to bottling and labeling, is done in-house and by hand,” Davis said.
“We really are having so much fun doing this, coming up with the names, having friends over to taste new recipes, and supporting the things we love,” Berry added. “And we’re proud to support local agriculture because without it, and without bees, you don’t have these whiskeys.”
To learn more about Soldier of the Sea Distillery, visit the website. For information about the UGA Bee Program, visit bees.caes.uga.edu.
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