Message beyond the bottle: Local distillery creates inclusive workspace

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — From making spirits to lifting them, a local distillery is working to create an inclusive workforce.

Ian Greig who helps bottle the alcohol at Beyond Distilling Company and Leigh Bolen who serves as program manager assistant, are two of the many employees at the distillery.

“I like the environment here, like everyone treated here equally and fairly and everyone is just fun to be around,” said Bolen.

Program manager and co-owner Kerianne Krause helped create the small business which employs adults with developmental disabilities to work in the alcohol industry.

“Being a distillery it’s kind of shocked people that this is the place that has chosen to have this mission, but I think for me it shows that really any place is capable of bringing people with varying abilities,” said Krause.

The company works to prove that a disability is not an inability.

“I think there is a vast misconception on the people’s worth that’s given through work when really, it’s just work. We’re all just going to make money, make a paycheck, be able to live, and why is there one subsection of the population that doesn’t get those same rights, even if it means there’s a few accommodations that need to be made,” said Krause.

The inclusive workforce makes it their mission to make a change in the community.

“All of them are friends now like I love them, so yeah. They’re pretty great, they’re pretty great people to work with,” said Bolen.

The company specializes in craft spirits such as bourbon, rum, and gin including coconut and other tropical flavors.