Hearts 'n Tales - podcast

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.

Barry 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 him 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.

A cardiologist 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.

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 county zoning code, this is a conversation about bottles that tell forgotten stories of home.

Fernando Plata built Miami's first gin out of a warehouse bay next to Kendall's airport, a leap that started over a Christmas dinner and years of self-taught fermentation science. He talks about why every recipe is public, why he won't call himself a master distiller, and what it takes to age whiskey in a state with no winter.

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.

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 fi...

Colby Theisen and Chris Schmitt share how a small, third‑generation Florida you‑pick farm became Loggerhead Distillery — a story of stubbornness, creativity, and getting legal when necessity knocked. We trace the moment a blueberry harvest turned into a new craft and hear why making something you can point to changed everything.

Cal Evans visits Yalaha Bootlegging Co. in Lake County, Florida, where third-generation farmer Doug McCormack is making moonshine the legal way — using organic blueberries from his own land and a family recipe that stayed hidden for 150 years. 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 gr...

Mike Weber traces moonshine's first written record to Barbados, 1650. He and Steve Nichols of Caribbean Moonshine in Orlando honor those first shiners.

In this episode, we explore the vibrant world of Caribbean Moonshine in Orlando, FL.