High West Distillery, nearing its opening in a landmark Old Town property, has secured the crucial permits from state regulators that allow the distillery to make and sell alcohol at the site.

The permits, granted in a series of votes by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission in late September, essentially allow High West to operate as owner David Perkins envisioned while the property was turned into the distillery.

The three permits, each approved unanimously by the panel, are:

a distillery license, which allows High West to distill liquor at the site.

a private-club license, within the dining-club category, which allows High West to serve alcohol at a bar as well as the dining area.

a Type 5 package agency permit, which allows High West to sell bottles of its product on the premises. Bottles of hard alcohol are normally only sold in state-run liquor stores.

The panel’s decisions are crucial for High West as it prepares for a planned debut in mid-November, at the start of the normally lucrative ski season. If any of the permits had been denied, High West would not have been able to run the operations as anticipated.

“It’s very exciting. There wasn’t any reason we wouldn’t have gotten them,” Perkins said in an interview, describing that the permits were awarded “right on time.”

Gordon Strachan, a Park City attorney who is a member of the panel and cast ‘Yea’ votes, declined to discuss the permits.

Each of the decisions affects a different part of the High West operation, with the distillery and private-club licenses appearing to be the most important to the upcoming opening.

Without the distillery license, High West could not have made its products at the site. The repercussions could have been significant and required Perkins to redo the plans. Perkins has long intended to turn the distillery into a niche attraction that could be an off-the-slopes stop for visitors interested in learning about whiskey making.

The private-club license, meanwhile, ensures that High West can serve its liquors to people at a restaurant-bar that will also open at the site.

“It’s nice to be able to sell someone the product if they think it tastes good,” Perkins said.

Perkins has been making whiskey at a temporary distillery housed in a Salt Lake City warehouse while his crews have been renovating the Old Town property, situated on Park Avenue close to the bottom of the Town Lift.

He plans to make the distillery’s three labels of whiskey and two types of vodka at the site. Two of the products, Rendezvous, which is a rye whiskey, and Vodka 7000′, have captured national awards. The five brands are sold in state liquor stores.

The planned mid-November opening will culminate more than four years of efforts by Perkins, who submitted the winning idea when City Hall put the property on the market.

Perkins has apprenticed at distilleries in Kentucky, a state famous for its whiskeys, and experimented with recipes before settling on the High West products. Meanwhile, renovating the property has cost $1 million more than Perkins had anticipated when he started the work, pushing the price to more than $4 million.

Perkins and others hope High West becomes a popular spot for tourists, and they want the distillery to be an example as they try to dispel long-held beliefs of outsiders that paint Utah as a state for teetotalers.

Sam Granato, the chairman of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, said the publicity surrounding High West is good for the state. He said the distillery will add to the local and statewide economy.

“When it comes to Park City, we want to do our best to stimulate your great economy,” Granato said.