CEO of Charleston’s First Distillery Enters the Brewery Business

In recognition of American Craft Beer Week, encouraging support for small and independent U.S. breweries, Pixie Paula Dezzutti, owner of Charleston’s first distillery since prohibition, the award-winning Striped Pig Distillery (SPD), is honored to announce her acquisition of Ghost Monkey Brewery (GMB), a Mount Pleasant based microbrewery known and loved for its variety of local craft beers since 2016. Pixie is lauded as a technology pioneer in the spirits, beer, and cannabis spaces and will help bring further growth and visibility to the talented work of GMB, nominated for Charleston’s best cold beer, and their master brewer Khoi Nguyen. People have been drinking beer for nearly 7000 years, with women being the original brewers. Now, Pixie is among the 2% of woman owned breweries and 1% of woman owned distilleries in the United States.?

The local companies are elated to be collaborating on innovative product releases, with a Bourbon inspired launch in the works. On International Beer Day last year, the woman-owned, family-operated Distillery announced its first project with the Brewery and the release of a special edition beer “New BeGINnings,” a Belgian Wit style beer invoking the distinct botanical blends of Striped Pig’s best selling, award-winning gin. “This move to bring the companies closer together only made sense,” said remaining operating partner and brew mastermind, John Kosky.

As an active investor in the food and beverage real estate space, Ms. Dezzutti is on the hunt to purchase additional locations worldwide for her portfolio. “I’m thrilled about this business venture,” said Striped Pig CEO Pixie Paula Dezzutti. “After searching for the perfect partner for a local beer collaboration and being so lucky to find the amazingly talented team at Ghost Monkey who share so many of our family business values, investing in the future of hospitality in Charleston is the natural next step to elevating GMB to the global level.”?

Ghost Monkey Brewery is a microbrewery located in Mount Pleasant, SC that prides itself on offering a consistent rotation of locally brewed beer. Made onsite in Mount Pleasant with an attached taproom, their dream of developing new beers and sharing them with friends over great food and live music came to life in 2016 and continues to delight visitors and regulars with draft, growlers, and cans to take home as well.

Pixie is a sought after thought leader in empowerment and entrepreneurship, launching the first diversity brands in the spirits business over a decade ago through her company Local Choice Spirits. Her local distillery SPD is celebrating its 10th year, marking its tenure as Charleston’s oldest distillery, and recently made headlines for raising over $40,000 to support local veterans, for releasing Charleston’s first Bottled in Bond Bourbon, and for launching the first bourbon on the blockchain. With nearly a decade of experience and a solid track record of delivering socially responsible beverages while simultaneously impacting the economic empowerment of communities, the mother of nine, author, and multi entrepreneur is no stranger to taking on challenges in the most regulated industries to help drive them forward. Ms Dezzutti has great experience fusing tradition and technology to yield the very best product offerings and innovations in the beverage business, as well as in the production of biological Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) to promote health and well-being. Ms Dezzutti? serves as the CEO of Sycamore BioPharma, a technology driven wellness company, as well as CEO of Charleston’s preeminent women’s empowerment magazine Skirt Magazine. Charleston Business Magazine named her in 2020’s Top 50 Most Influential People & Hall of Famers, and in 2022 the Atlanta Women’s Chamber of Commerce honored her with the International Woman of The Year Award.

Striped Pig Distillery’s 10th anniversary coincides with Pixie Paula Dezzutti’s 60th birthday and is being celebrated with a Party at the Pig with music, food, games, raffles and more on June 3rd from 1-6pm. More details and tickets available here: PartyAtThePig.eventbrite.com