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GREENVILLE — As most things do in Lisa Messenger and Todd Harbin’s lives, their idea to open a distillery began with a plan. Not just an idea, but with a well-vetted, risk assessed, step-by-step plan.

What else could one expect of two longtime product test engineers?

But unlike their other business ventures, New South Spirits is also a creative outlet — an antidote to the rote day-to-day of assessing maximum loads, burn safety and best practices.

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Messenger and Harbin along with managing partner T.C. Beinke, will open New South Spirits later this month in a historic space in the heart of the West End.

It will be the first distillery in Greenville city limits.

The distillery and tasting room at 1 Augusta St. will be on the first floor of the beneath what was Smoke on the Water in the historic building that also houses The Velo Fellow, Mellow Mushroom and the forthcoming Nic and Norman’s.

New South Spirits will focus on small-batch, additive-free, artisan rums, agave spirits and creams, all of which will be available sampling and for purchase on site.

The tasting room, which boasts a sizeable bar, tables and artwork all made by the team of owners, will also feature a cocktail program designed to showcase the depth and scope of each spirit. The three have considered and designed every aspect of the distillery from the artwork that hangs on the walls to the tornado that is part of the logo to the custom temperature controls for the stills.

“We have all focused on putting ourselves into this as much as possible,” Harbin said.

A bourbon lover that makes rum

In truth, Harbin is a bourbon drinker. But that’s why he couldn’t make it. He’d be too picky, less open to embracing the process of creation.

Messenger has always liked rum, and so they started there. But then in doing their due diligence, they found tequila a growing market, so they decided to explore agave spirits, too.

While distilling is a creative outlet for the team, it is also highly technical. Harbin loves the technicality.

“Oh, if you wanna get in the weeds we’ll go there,” he said with a grin. “We can talk about how the sulfites move through the atomic structure.”

The process of distilling suits Harbin, who has worked in product test engineering for close to three decades. To that end, he started with doing extensive research.

From there, Harbin developed his own process for distillation. Instead of one big still, New South uses four smaller ones, which allows them to produce different spirits, at the same time.

Harbin also built his own operations control, allowing him to better regulate the temperature, which is an integral part of distilling.

Thus far, New South features nine different spirits, though plans call for adding some aged varieties within the next couple of years.

For now, the distillery features a distilling area as well as a tasting room. The latter place features a comfortable spot to try the spirits as-is or in a variety of creative cocktails all curated by Beinke.

Look for plays on classics like a take on an old fashioned, a rum punch, a margarita, along with a spicy margarita that uses New South Agave Reaper that is infused with Carolina Reaper peppers.

Plans call for changing the menu seasonally and featuring special weekly.

The tasting room does not sell food, which inhibits its hours. Essentially, as Messenger explains it, they have to follow the same laws as ABC stores. This means they won’t be open past 7 p.m. or on Sundays.

But New South is still game to providing visitors an experience. They will offer tours and tastings along with ideas for special events.

Plans also call for eventually moving into the retail and restaurant and bar market through distribution, but the team is taking the process one step at a time.

Seasoned entrepreneurs

Harbin and Messenger have known and worked with each other so long that they can read one another without talking. That’s why when Harbin approached his friend and business partner 2 ½ years ago about needing to do something new, she knew it was time to start a new business.

The two have a history.

Messenger started her own product-testing company over 20 years ago. Harbin came on as a specialist in the automotive industry, and eventually the two merged operations to became co-owners.

They sold the company but continued to work there.

Greenville

Beinke came on board in 2017.

The engineers love their field, but the everyday routine was growing old.

“The first time we blew up an airbag it was a lot of fun, but after you’ve blown up 10,000 airbags, it’s just another boom,” Messenger said. “Flammability tests, first time we set something on fire, it was pretty fun but now...”

After they had the idea, they had to do a risk assessment and feasibility study. The three spent about six months visiting distilleries around the state. They watched the traffic patterns, studied pricing, took note of products available and popularity.

They came away with a plan for a successful distillery but knew without serving food they needed more foot traffic.

That’s how they landed on the downtown location.

Thus far, guests will find a line of Bedlam rums, Ghost cream rums and Apocalipses agave spirits.

The logo of a tornado funnel and the catch phrase “embrace the chaos” seem fitting to a degree, because while the three partners for sure move quickly and here and there, they are doing so within their very controlled, considered and tested plan.

New South Spirits is slated to open April 20 at 1 Augusta St., Suite 102.

The distillery will feature a line of rums, including spiced and aged varieties, cream rums and a variety of 100 percent blue agave and mixtos agave spirits.

For more, follow @newsouthspiritsgvl on social media and visit https://newsouthspirits.com.

Follow Lillia Callum-Penso on Instagram @lpenso

The city of Greenville presented final improvement recommendations for Augusta Street on April 9.

Traffic and pedestrian safety enhancements are planned for a 2.3-mile stretch of the corridor, both in the commercial section from Cureton Street to Church Street and the residential portion from Cureton Street to Mauldin Road.

Initial plans for the project were first presented to the public in October 2023. Since then, significant changes were made in response to two rounds of community feedback.

Clint Link, the city’s director of engineering services, explained the project is trying to balance safety while also addressing the needs of the neighborhood and commercial businesses along the roadway.

“It’s tough to try to find the right balance but I think we’ve arrived at a good plan,” Link said.

Commercial section

Previous plans for Augusta Street’s commercial portion included closing the open curb cut at Lafayette Cleaners and Blockhouse Restaurant & Oyster Bar to redirect customers to turn onto Capers Street. Changes to the signalized intersection at Capers and Augusta streets were also proposed.

These plans have been removed after the city received strong public feedback against this proposal. Resident Heath Beard said she is very pleased that the plan was reconsidered and that the city listened to the residents and businesses.

Several access management strategies such as raised medians and driveway consolidations have also been reduced in the commercial section. However, extended concrete medians are proposed between Faris Road and Cureton Street and near McDaniel Avenue. Link said the medians will be used to facilitate traffic flow in the area.

The updated plan also extends the merge area into the road diet in the corridor’s residential section. The project was the city’s first phase of Augusta Street improvements completed in 2022. An additional turn lane will also be added for Oregon Street.

Utility undergrounding is planned from Cateechee Avenue to Faris Road. This portion of the project is estimated to cost $8 million to complete. A duct bank will be created along the edge of the roadway to lay new electrical conduit. Link explained private easements must be secured with around 43 property owners to complete this project.

“We have the preliminary alignments for that duct bank figured out,” Link said. “We’re at a point now where we are able to start engaging with the property owners along the road.”

Read more on Augusta Street’s utility undergrounding project

Additional improvements to the commercial section include sidewalk and signal-timing improvements.

Residential section

Fewer adjustments were made to the improvements planned along Augusta Street’s residential section. The updated plan removed proposed landscape medians at:

Only one raised meeting is still proposed at Crystal Avenue.

The city also plans to create a right-turn lane along Augusta Street at Old Augusta Road and complete improvements at the Mauldin Road intersection. Enhancements to improve driver visibility and safety are suggested for the roadway curve located at the entrance to the corridor’s residential section from the commercial portion.

Other improvements to the residential section include street resurfacing, sidewalk repair, vegetation management, street and pedestrian scale lighting, overhead utility cleanup, driveway consolidation and signal timing improvements.

Timeline

Following the final public meeting, the Augusta Street project will go through the city’s budgeting process which is currently underway. Greenville City Council held its first budget workshop April 8 and reviewed a draft of the fiscal year 2025 budget. The preliminary budget proposes the city to invest $500,000 into the Augusta Street project.

“This will be a multi-phase project,” Link said. “We’re easily going to be looking at a $10 to $12 million upgrade to Augusta Street. It will take a few years to be able to do that.”

Link said that designs for the project are hoped to be finalized by summer 2024 and will then go before council for approval.

For the utility underground project, the acquisition process of right-of-way and private property easements will be completed in the summer and fall. The undergrounding construction is anticipated to begin by late 2024.

Construction in Augusta Street’s residential section is hoped to start by early 2025.

Phase one impact

The first phase of safety improvements to Augusta Street included a road diet along the corridor’s residential section.

An average of 79 crashes occurred between Mauldin Road to Augusta Place each year from 2017 to 2019, according to the city.

The same portion of the roadway saw a 42% reduction in crashes per year after the road diet was completed with an average of 45.4 crashes in 2022 and 2023.

Timeline

Budget Approval: Spring 2024

Final Design: Summer 2024

Right-of-Way/Easement Acquisition: Summer/fall 2024

Undergrounding Construction: Late 2024

Residential Construction: Early 2025

After three games on the road, Greenville is heading back home. They will take on the Centralia Orphans at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Greenville is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.6 runs per game this season.

On Tuesday, Greenville came up short against Carlinville and fell 6-3. Greenville has not had much luck with Carlinville recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.

Greenville saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ava Potthast, who went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a double.

Meanwhile, Centralia can now show off five landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Cahokia a 17-0 shutout. The win was a breath of fresh air for Centralia as it put an end to their three-game losing streak.

Jocelyn Hossler made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (she also only allowed one walk). Hossler was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.

In other batting news, Centralia let Madison Wiesen and Kathara Williams loose on the outfield. Wiesen went 2-for-2 with three RBI, a triple, and a run, while Williams scored two runs while going 2-for-2. The team also got some help courtesy of Kinsley Hawthorne, who scored two runs while going 1-for-1.

Greenville's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-9. As for Centralia, their victory bumped their record up to 6-4.

Greenville suffered a grim 8-1 defeat to Centralia when the teams last played back in April of 2023. Will Greenville have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other softball content.

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The reigning South Atlantic League Champions returned to action at Fluor Field for the first time in 2024, but a return to the friendly grounds was dampened for the Greenville Drive (1-3) as they fell 7-3 to the Bowling Green Hot Rods (2-2).

While the Drive celebrated the 2023 SAL Championship one last time in front of a solid home opening crowd, much of the fanfare in-game belonged to Hot Rods’ starter Duncan Davitt who turned in a dominating performance as he held the Drive hitless through 5.2 innings with six strikeouts before being relieved.

On the flipside Drive starter Dalton Rogers picked up where he left off in 2023 for all of 3.2 innings, tossing six strikeouts with ease. But he’d couple that with five walks, ultimately walking in a run in the top of the fourth to give Bowling Green the early 1-0 lead, before Manager Iggy Suarez made a call to the bullpen. The problems for Greenville however would grow from there as reliever Nathan Landry walked the ensuing batter with the bases loaded bringing in the second run of the game. The duo of Rogers and Landry would combine for five walks in the fourth inning.

But Landry’s night would only get worse as a single from Xavier Isaac, a double from Cooper Kinney, and a double from Kamren James off the Green Monster would add five more runs for the Hot Rods putting the Drive in a 7-0 hole when the inning mercifully ended.

The switch on the mound for Bowling Green to righty Sandy Gaston seemed to be just what the Drive needed to break through the no-hit bid as Allan Castro slapped a hard hit double to the right field wall scoring Cutter Coffey from second before Ronald Rosario added a bouncing single through the in-field making 7-2 Bowling Green. Coffey’s run was officially charged to Davitt giving him the odd combination of having not allowed a hit but having allowed a run.

The Drive would pick up four more hits along the way including a deep fly from Kristian Campbell, marking the first home run of 2024 at Fluor Field. Coincidentally, Campbell was the last player to hit a home run in 2023 at Fluor Field when he launched a three-run home run in Game Two of the SAL Championship Series.

Conor Steinbaugh and Caleb Bolden would finish the night on the mound for the Drive allowing a hit a piece while each picked up a pair of strikeouts.

The Drive return to action Wednesday, April 10 at Fluor Field at 7:05 p.m. for game two of the six-game series with Bowling Green. The Hot Rods lead the series, 1-0.

The Greenville County Coroner's Office reported a decrease in accidental overdose deaths in 2023, the first decline in five years, according to data from the agency.

According to Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis, the office reported 219 accidental overdose fatalities in 2023, down from 274 accidental overdose deaths in 2022.

In prior years, the office reported 258 accidental overdoses in 2021, 173 in 2020, and 130 in 2019. The 2023 data represents the first decline the office has documented in the last five years.

The coroner’s office couldn't identify one singular cause for the decrease in accidental overdose deaths but pointed to efforts to share education about substance use and new systems to help bring awareness of harmful drugs in the area as possible reasons.

"What the actual answer is to the decrease of that number, I think it's comprised of multiple things," Greenville County Deputy Coroner Shelton England said. "I can't narrow it down to one answer as to the reason in the decrease. I think that all entities throughout Greenville are doing great things but clearly, something is working."

Educational partnerships help bring awareness of substance abuse disorders

In 2020, the coroner's office and the Phoenix Center, a substance use treatment center in Greenville, partnered to create the Mobile Substance Abuse and Education unit. This unit, which operates out of the coroner’s office, is tasked with going to communities and schools, and providing programs to teach different age groups about substance misuse. The Phoenix Center also offers drug screenings, educational programming and out-patient services, among others to combat substance abuse disorders.

"When we started it, we thought about going out and meeting people where they are and educating on substance use," England said.

The education unit offers video lessons and exercises that show the effects of different drugs and how they can have life threatening consequences.

More: New Sheriff's Office, EMS program combats opioid crisis in Greenville County. What to know.

The Phoenix Center’s Director of Community Engagement Mike McLain said the partnership formed when the two organizations noticed the trend of overdose deaths continued to tick upwards in recent years.

"We just wanted to try to make a difference on the front end of this issue instead of the back end when it’s too late," McLain said. "The coroner's office has been very responsive and very forward thinking to help intervene in this crisis. Hopefully this partnership will reduce those calls that their coroners have to go on and investigate with it ending up as an unintentional overdose."

McLain said that the education the organizations both provide about substance abuse disorders plays a vital role in the effort to decrease the number of overdoses.

"Education is vital for our community to see that this is a public health issue. There are families that have never dealt with addiction who are now losing loved ones due to addiction and overdoses. We want to get the message out," McLain said.

England mentioned that the use and distribution of Narcan has also helped decrease the number of overdoses. Narcan, the brand name for Naloxone, is a medication used to reverse an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids. He said that having this medication even more readily available to the public than it has been in the past is vital. Currently, the Phoenix Center offers Narcan distribution and every first responder in Greenville County is equipped with it, England said.

"Open access allows for even more hope of reversing and decreasing overdoses. There's no harm in administering Narcan even if it's not an overdose, so if there is a fear of a possible overdose, you can only end up with positive results," England said.

One father's story: Kris Stepp honors daughter's memory by helping to save lives

How faster toxicology results help raise awareness of harmful drugs in the county

In addition to the partnership with the Phoenix Center, the coroner’s office is adding new substance identification systems that they anticipate will bring more awareness to the public about drugs that are in the area.

The office received a $102,000 grant from the Upstate Healthcare Coalition for the implementation of the Randox Rapid Toxicology system. The Randox system is a new toxicology system that helps identify what type of drugs were in someone’s body after they die.

"It's more real-time data versus currently, you have to wait 12 weeks out before you can hear back the results. With this, we’re getting results within a day or two," England said.

The coroner’s office uses an outside laboratory, the National Medical Laboratory System, to produce toxicology reports.

The National Medical Laboratory System provides a percentage of substances inside a deceased body. In comparison, the Randox system only tests whether a certain substance is in a person’s body with a positive or negative result which produces a faster report, according to the coroner’s office.

The rapid toxicology system allows the coroner’s office to provide more information on overdoses and spread awareness more quickly, England said.

The coroner’s office is also utilizing the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s Overdose Map program, a system used by different law enforcement, coroner’s offices and hospitals around the country to track overdoses and drug trafficking trends in an area.

"The more we know about what drugs are around us and how they're affecting people, the more we can educate the public," Ellis said.

According to the coroner’s office, this program helps identify trends before they could become a major issue.

"If we're seeing an influx of overdoses in this area, we really need to target that area to go out and do education. It's all on identified data and it creates a heat map to target where we may need to do Narcan distribution there," England said.

Terry Benjamin II covers public safety and breaking news for The Greenville News and can be reached at [email protected] or on X @Terrybenji2.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville coroner sees first decrease in overdose deaths in 5 years