Hearts 'n Tales Stories from the Stillhouse
May 26, 2026 • podcast
Copper Bottom Distillery
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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 and, in that moment, four people walked out knowing exactly what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. A decade later, he's the co-founder and head distiller of Copper Bottom Craft Distillery in Holly Hill, Florida — Volusia County's first licensed craft distillery — and the reigning champion of Discovery Channel's Moonshiners: Master Distiller Season 7. His story is about chemistry meeting craft, a family that showed up, and a stubborn refusal to cut corners.

A large white, shield-shaped sign mounted on a beige exterior wall under an overhang features a stylized sailing ship with seagulls. Below the ship the text reads 'COPPER BOTTOM CRAFT DISTILLERY' above an anchor-and-chain logo. A single-story beige building displays large black letters across the top spelling 'COPPER BOTTOM CRAFT DISTILLERY,' with a centered dark door, long narrow windows on the left, and a potted palm in a wooden barrel to the right. A cracked asphalt parking area occupies the foreground and a wide, cloudy sky fills the background. Three bottles sit on a wooden bar counter: a dark-brown Bourbon whiskey bottle at left, a clear coconut-flavored rum bottle in the center, and an orange “Jamicile” moonshine jar with a gold lid at right, with a glass of rolled US dollar bills beside them. Behind the counter are shelves with assorted items, a frozen drink machine at left, and a TV/menu screen on the wall. A wooden bar counter displays a row of clear and amber liquor bottles with metal pour spouts, a glass of black straws on the left, and a mason jar with an orange label on the right. Shelves stocked with more bottles and a wall-mounted menu/TV are visible in the background. A wooden bar counter in the foreground displays assorted liquor bottles, jars, a container of straws, a printed cocktail menu, and a slushy machine to the left. Behind the counter is a wall of wooden shelves filled with more bottles and a central television screen showing people, with pendant lights hanging from the ceiling and gray painted walls. Two clear glass containers sit on a wooden counter: a tall pint glass on the left printed with a sailing-ship logo and the words 'Copper Bottom Craft Distillery,' and a shorter jar on the right labeled 'Copper Bottom Single Barrel Rum' with a hanging tag. In front of them are two small stacks of cartoon duck stickers wearing sunglasses and hats, with blurred shelves of bottles in the background. Five clear glass bottles of amber-colored rum with maroon 'Copper Bottom Sherry Finished Rum' labels and copper-colored neck seals are lined up on a wooden shelf against a gray wall. Interior of an industrial distillery showing tall stainless steel and copper column stills with multiple round sight-glass ports, connected piping, blue hoses and gauges mounted on a wooden-topped stainless workbench. Exposed wooden ceiling rafters, concrete block walls, a mezzanine with railings, barrels, a large metal tub and various tools are visible in the foreground. A large polished stainless-steel industrial tank with an open angled manway and blue-handled fittings stands on three legs in a workshop, its reflective surface showing distorted reflections of figures, shelving and equipment. Nearby are pipes, a hanging towel and a yellow mop bucket. Several polished stainless-steel fermentation tanks with attached hoses, valves, and fittings sit on a concrete floor in an industrial room with exposed pipes and shelving, their mirrored surfaces reflecting nearby equipment and a partially visible person. A large polished stainless-steel and copper still with gauges, valves, pipes and a tall conical copper column fills the center of an industrial room. A bald man in a dark short-sleeve shirt stands at the right holding blue hoses, with barrels, metal shelving and a concrete floor visible in the background. A multi-tiered wooden rack holding rows of small oak barrels with metal bands and spigots, each barrel face branded with different logos and labels. Blue hoses and stainless equipment are visible on the left, while a gray wall, plumbing fixtures, and a black trash bag appear on the right. A stainless-steel pot still with a vertical column containing five circular sight-glass ports, a pressure gauge, and blue hoses stands beside a metal table holding a large stainless stockpot and cardboard boxes, with multiple wooden barrels stacked on a rack in the background. Several wooden barrels, including a newer light-colored barrel with metal hoops, are arranged on a concrete floor beneath red racks alongside an orange extension cord and a white plastic bucket containing a red cloth. A person's forearm and hand are visible at the right edge, resting on a barrel while holding a blue can. Close-up of a glass bottle labeled 'Copper Bottom Maple Barrel Rum' with an ornate black-and-red label reading 'Maple Barrel Rum' and 'Florida Rum,' containing amber liquid and sitting on a wooden countertop; the bottle is flanked by two other bottles and a person in a dark shirt is partially visible in the background. Close-up of a clear glass bottle containing amber liquid labeled 'Copper Bottom RUM' with a ship illustration and text 'Bottled in Bond,' '100 proof,' and '750 ml,' standing on a wooden surface between two other liquor bottles.

Episode Transcript

Jeremy Craig built Copper Bottom Craft Distillery on a simple philosophy: make it from scratch, let it sit, and never cut corners. That stubbornness — which he'll tell you straight-faced is actually just good business — has made Copper Bottom one of Florida's most distinctive craft distilleries.

Jeremy's path to the stillhouse started with an entire family steeped in beer. Two grandfathers retired from Schlitz. His father put in 20 years at Pabst and Stroh's. Opening a brewery seemed like the obvious move. By the time Jeremy and his wife Jenni were ready to act on it, breweries were on every corner. So they pivoted. Hard.

A family trip to Vermont changed everything. They stopped in at a tiny new craft distillery, and four people walked out the door knowing exactly what they were going to do with the rest of their lives. Jeremy — chemistry and biology background — enrolled at Moonshine University in Louisville for a six-day deep dive not just into distillation science but into the brutal operational realities of running a distillery. In 2016, he and Jenni opened Copper Bottom Craft Distillery at 998 N. Beach Street in Holly Hill, Florida — Volusia County's very first licensed craft distillery.

Ten years in, Copper Bottom produces a Silver Rum, Small Batch Vodka, and a Single Barrel Rum that Jeremy describes with characteristic understatement as "letting it sit and making sure the distillation is done right." The single barrel uses raw unrefined cane sugar instead of molasses — pulling out butterscotch, banana, and vanilla notes without a drop of added flavor, color, or shortcut. Ever. It's a philosophy, not a marketing claim.

The expanded lineup — sherry-finished, port-finished, beer-barrel-aged, wine-barreled — comes from Jeremy's constraint-driven creativity. No additives means every new expression has to earn its flavor the honest way. The beer-barrel program started because local brewery owners kept cornering him at festivals begging for barrels to age their own beer in; Jeremy figured out how to make the trade work both ways.

In February 2025, Jeremy won Season 7 of Discovery Channel's Moonshiners: Master Distiller — competing on small home-style equipment far removed from his commercial setup, up against home distillers who had been at it for fifteen years. Holly Hill's mayor named him official Master Distiller of the city. He threw a viewing party at the distillery.

In 2026, Copper Bottom launched a Distiller's Course: ten students, two Saturdays, grain to glass. Students mash in, make the cuts themselves, barrel it, and walk out with a custom-engraved five-gallon barrel aging in the stillhouse. First class sold out 45 slots almost immediately. The next one is rum.

And then there's the COVID story. In March 2020, Jeremy walked through a grocery store, noticed the shelves were stripped bare of hand sanitizer, realized ethanol was the active ingredient, went home, and told Jenni he could make it. He had 20 gallons. By 9 AM the next morning, four news trucks were parked outside. Over the following eight months, Copper Bottom gave away more than 5,000 gallons of hand sanitizer — free, to anyone who walked through the door. At one point, they produced 50 gallons overnight and a helicopter from the USS Gerald R. Ford carried it offshore to a ship that couldn't get any during sea trials. Because of course it did.

Copper Bottom Craft Distillery 998 N. Beach Street, Holly Hill, FL 32117 Tastings, tours, and Distiller's Courses: copperbottomspirits.com