Episode 9

Oct 22, 2026 27:52

Tarpon Springs Distillery: Ouzo, Amazing Grace, and a Church Full of Whiskey

Barry and Lisa Butler turned an old Greek sponge warehouse in Tarpon Springs into a grain-to-glass distillery, with a 130-year-old church for a rickhouse and stills named Amazing Grace and RD2D. Cal Evans talks with them about a savory ouzo found on an old blog, a Highland-style single malt made in Florida, free tours, and the Bahamian sponge divers buried down the road.

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Episode 8

Sep 19, 2026 50:31

Homosassa Distillery: From Hummingbird Juice to an 800-Gallon Still

A 32-year cardiology veteran who wasn't allowed to retire and a cop who made hummingbird juice in his garage built Homosassa Distillery by hand on Florida's Nature Coast. Marc Dossey and Karl Lounge talk about chicken-coop tin, an 800-gallon still with no computer on it, rum named for mangrove trees, and why the whole business runs on getting you to come back.

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Episode 7

Aug 27, 2026 26:38

Indian River Distillery

Cal Evans visits Indian River Distillery in Vero Beach, where Ray Hooker put a piece of 1715 treasure-fleet silver in the still and named his whiskey for the last American pirates. From a camp in the Florida scrub to rewriting the local zoning rules, this is a conversation about bottles that tell forgotten stories of home.

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Episode 6

Jul 22, 2026 30:15

Big Cypress Distillery

Fernando Plata had been brewing since 1994 but had never distilled when an idea at a Christmas dinner became Big Cypress Distillery, starting with a Magic City Gin that took 29 iterations to get right. He talks about why every recipe is public, why he won't call himself a master distiller, putting out Florida's first bottled-in-bond whiskey, and what it takes to age whiskey in a state with no winter.

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Episode 5

Jun 17, 2026 27:56

Munyon's Paw-Paw

Joe Colucci and Paul Massey trace Munyon's Paw-Paw back to a chance discovery at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. They share how a forgotten Florida story became a modern aperitif brand built on history, curiosity, and timing.

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Episode 4

May 26, 2026 38:21

Copper Bottom Distillery

Jeremy Craig didn't plan on becoming a distiller — he was on a family vacation in Vermont when he peered through a window at a small craft distillery, the owner showed them around, and four people walked out the door knowing exactly what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. Today he's the distiller behind Copper Bottom Craft Distillery in Holly Hill, Florida — Volusia County's first licensed craft distillery — and a champion of Moonshiners: Master Distiller. His story is about chemistry meeting craft, a family that showed up, and a stubborn refusal to cut corners.

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Episode 3

Apr 9, 2026 22:59

Episode 3: Loggerhead Distillery

Two engineers, a backyard still that grew to ten feet tall, and a yard full of oranges that never made it into the pot. Chris Schmitt and Colby Theisen tell how years of lunchtime talk became Loggerhead Distillery in downtown Sanford, named for the sea turtles that mean Florida to them, and why making something you can point to at the end of the day changed everything.

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Episode 2

Mar 12, 2026 27:44

Episode 2: Yalaha Bootlegging Company

Cal Evans visits Yalaha Bootlegging Co. in Lake County, Florida, where third-generation farmer Doug McCormack is making moonshine the legal way — swapping the corn in his grandfather's old corn liquor for organic blueberries from his own land. From a grandfather who never admitted a thing to a standoff with the FDA after the pandemic, this episode is full of characters, surprises, and genuinely great spirits.

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Episode 1

Feb 3, 2026 21:46

Episode 1: Caribbean Moonshine Distillers

Steve Nichols and Mike Weber make moonshine inside an Orlando mall, and they'll tell you it didn't start in Appalachia. It started in the sugar cane fields of Barbados in 1650, which is why they call it Caribbean Moonshine. Cal Evans talks with them about a 100% Florida spirit that runs from Okeechobee and Sebring cane to Florida spring water, a guava batch everyone was too polite to call bad, a spiced rum that became a Busch Gardens Halloween exclusive, and a chance meeting at the bar that put their peanut butter and chocolate shine on a table at Paramount Studios.

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