Covalent Spirits sits on Main Street in Westminster, Maryland, where founders Chris Cline and Jaime Windon transformed their chemistry backgrounds into craft distilling. The husband-and-wife team launched their operation in 2016, bringing a scientific approach to small-batch spirits in Carroll County. Cline, a former pharmaceutical chemist, and Windon, with her background in analytical chemistry, applied their lab expertise to perfecting bourbon, rye, and gin recipes in their compact facility. The 3,000-square-foot distillery operates with a 500-gallon copper pot still and fermentation tanks that let them control every variable in the process. Their chemistry-meets-craft philosophy shows in everything from precise temperature control during fermentation to their methodical approach to barrel selection. You’ll find them producing bourbon, rye whiskey, and gin with the same attention to detail they once brought to pharmaceutical compounds. The tasting room doubles as their retail space, where visitors can sample spirits while watching the production process through large windows into the distillery floor.