Craft Spirits Podcast

Our latest guests on The Craft Spirits Podcast are Kallyn Romero and Laura Walters of Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse of Denver. Romero is the co-founder and a Colorado native and Walters is a head distiller who studied winemaking at Oregon State University and got her start in the spirits industry at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey. In this episode, Romero and Walters discuss the benefits of making...

Our latest guests on The Craft Spirits Podcast are Mollie Lewis and Hannah Lowen of New Riff Distilling in Newport, Kentucky. In June, the distillery announced that next spring, founder and CEO Ken Lewis will retire, and Mollie (Ken’s daughter), Lowen and Denny Gorman will assume leadership. Lowen, who currently serves as vice president of operations, will become CEO. Mollie, currently the sales d...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Murphy Quint of Cedar Ridge Distillery in Swisher, Iowa. As head distiller and director of operations, Murphy oversees the distillery, winery, vineyards, campus grounds and facilities. As Cedar Ridge is one of the few winery and distilleries in the United States, Murphy has gained a unique understanding of how the influence of wine can impact the fl...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Donnis Todd, the master distiller for Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas. With Todd leading bourbon production and hand-selecting each barrel, Garrison Brothers has earned over 400 awards from around the world for its bourbon. That includes the distillery’s vaunted Cowboy Bourbon, an annual release that comes from Todd's and founder Dan Garr...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Gina Holman, the president of the American Craft Spirits Association. She is also a founding partner of J. Carver Distillery in Waconia, Minnesota; an ISG certified sommelier; and the vice president of the Minnesota Distillers Guild. In this episode, Holman discusses her start in the spirits industry, the origins of J. Carver Distillery, the evoluti...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Kelly Woodcock of Westward Whiskey in Portland, Oregon. She is a partner and serves as vice president, guest experiences & Whiskey Club, in which she oversees all direct-to-consumer sales programs for the state of Oregon while running Westward’s hospitality program and operations for the whiskey company’s four tasting rooms. And earlier this year, s...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Bruce Tyler, the co-founder of Weldon Mills Distillery in Weldon, North Carolina. Tyler is a former active duty member of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps who opened the distillery with his friend and business partner Michael Hinderliter at the start of the pandemic in 2020. One year later, the distillery’s corn whiskey, Rockfish, claime...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Jamie Hunt of Fast Penny Spirits, a Seattle-based company that makes amaro. In this episode, Hunt discusses her love of amaro and how her former experience as a vp of digital strategy helped her launch Fast Penny during the pandemic. She also shares details about the company’s Pretty Penny giveback program and becoming a Certified B Corporation. Cli...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Lucy Farber, the operations manager for St. George Spirits in Alameda, California. She’s also a board member for the American Craft Spirits Association and one of the tri-chairs for ACSA's education committee. In March, Lucy chatted about her early days at the distillery; being a part of a reinvention when ownership transitioned from founder Jörg Ru...

This episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast is part of a special series of conversations with some of the founding members and first board members of the American Craft Spirits Association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our guest is Nicole Austin, general manager and distiller of Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., the maker of Tennessee’s George Dickel whiskies. Nicole has been a fierce adv...

This episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast is part of a special series of conversations with some of the founding members and first board members of the American Craft Spirits Association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our guest is Paul Hletko, the founder of Evanston, Illinois-based FEW Spirits. Since FEW is part of Samson & Surrey, which was acquired by Heaven Hill Brands in 2022, th...

This episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast is part of a special series of conversations with some of the founding members and first board members of the American Craft Spirits Association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our guest is Thomas Mooney, ACSA’s inaugural president, and a founder and CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Westward Whiskey. Tom has led the company through an extended per...

This episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast is part of a special series of conversations with some of the founding members and first board members of the American Craft Spirits Association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our guest is ACSA’s first vice president Ted Huber. Ted is the president and co-owner of Huber’s Orchard, Winery and Vineyards in Borden, Indiana, where he’s also the ma...

Today’s episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast is part of a special series of conversations with some of the founding members and first board members of the American Craft Spirits Association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our guest is Ralph Erenzo, who co-founded Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery in 2003 with Brian Lee and his son Gable Erenzo, who passed away in 2021. In this episode, Ra...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Mark A. Vierthaler, the head distiller at Tucson, Arizona-based Hamilton Distillers Group—producers of Whiskey Del Bac. He was also elected to ACSA’s board of directors in 2022, and he has experience working at Tenth Ward Distillery and Boot Hill Distillery. In this episode, Mark discusses his journey from a distillery that dabbles in nearly all cat...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is David Weglarz, the owner and head distiller at St. Louis-based StilL 630, which celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year. In this episode, Weglarz discusses the genesis of the distillery; all of the hidden meaning in the name and logo for StilL 630; his claim to fame of likely being the first distillery to open in a former fast food restaur...

Our latest guests on The Craft Spirits Podcast are Christian and Blake Huber of Starlight Distillery and Huber’s Orchard and Winery. The brothers are seventh-generation members of their family farm in Borden, Indiana. In July, the distillery’s Carl T. Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey earned best of whiskey and best in show at ACSA’s 9th annual judging of craft spirits. In this episode, Christian and...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Randy Prasse, the president and COO of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, which is scheduled for September 16-18 in Bardstown, Kentucky. Prasse has more than 30 years of experience in festival production, destination marketing, and economic development. He recently joined editor in chief Jeff Cioletti to discuss all things bourbon and the evolution of t...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Matt Vogl, the executive director and co-founder of the National Mental Health Innovation Center at the University of Colorado, and the keynote speaker at ACSA’s 9th Annual Distillers’ Convention and Vendor Trade Show in New Orleans this July 21. The title for his keynote is Distilling Better Mental Health & Crafting Support in Volatile Times. Matt...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Michael Myers, the founder and owner of 291 Colorado Whiskey in Colorado Springs. At ACSA’s convention in Louisville, Kentucky, last December, he joined Jeff Cioletti and Jon Page for a wide-ranging conversation about his path to making whiskey. A former fashion and beauty photographer who was in New York on 911, Michael launched 291 in 2011. He als...

In the latest episode of The Craft Spirits Podcast, we focus on the STEPUP Foundation, a nonprofit spirits training and entrepreneurship program for underrepresented professionals in the spirits industry. Our guests include Erin Lee and Yakntoro “Yaki” Udoumoh—the program’s inaugural interns—and Margie Lehrman, the CEO of the American Craft Spirits Association and the president of STEPUP.  Lehrman...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Heather Greene, CEO of Milam & Greene Whiskey in Blanco, Texas. She’s also a world-leading spirits expert and the author of “Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life.” She recently joined us to discuss her journey to Milam & Greene and how being a writer helps her as a CEO. But we started with the distillery’s Straight Rye Whiskey Fi...

Our latest guests on The Craft Spirits Podcast are Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman of Honkaku Spirits, which is devoted to bringing intensely artisanal Japanese spirits to discerning American customers with a particular focus on koji-based spirits. Pellegrini is Honkaku’s founder, Lyman is their ambassador, and both of them are writers. Pellegrini published the first ever English language...

Our latest guests are Johnny Jeffery of Bently Heritage Estate Distillery and John McKee of Headframe Spirits. They’re also a part of Good Deeds Spirits, a passionate collective of distillers and friends committed to supporting causes that lead to positive change. The group recently unveiled its first release, Good Deeds Malt Whiskey, which is available at seelbachs.com. It’s a blend from nine cra...

Our latest guest on The Craft Spirits Podcast is Brian Facquet of Do Good Spirits. "Do good everyday," was part of a toast in 2016 made by a friend of Facquet, who founded Prohibition Spirits in 2009. “Do good” was the last thing his friend ever said to him. Today, those words are the core mission of the Roscoe, New York-based distillery, which recently rebranded as Do Good Spirits. Back in August...