Tarpon Springs Distillery is home to two of the most charming distillers in America. Talking to them is like talking to a couple of laid-back snowbirds chilling out through retirement in the Sunshine State. But the Butlers are Florida to their core, and they make a rack of solid products. Because of Florida’s liquor laws, they can serve their whiskey directly to the patrons of their bar and concert venue. But also, because of Florida laws, you’ll have to drive to the United States’ Sponge Diving capital to get some. When you do, ask Jessi for a Bloody Mary made with their smoked mullet gin, which deserves a medal and a statue and an anthem we all sing every damn day.
What whiskey first made you say fuck yeah?
Barry: The first thing we really got excited about was Middleton Irish Whiskey.
Lisa: We weren’t drinking a lot of whiskeys back in the day. We were craft beer people. We went on a trip to Ireland, and I think we were treated to it by the bartender because they’re insanely friendly there and we both thought, wow, this is pretty good.
Barry: it was like a $100 whiskey back in the day.
Lisa: if we had whiskey back then, it was Jack and Coke.
Barry: Or when I was 16, I’d get liquor at the bootlegger who only stocked Very Old Barton.
If you weren’t making whiskey, you’d probably be . . .
Barry: I’d be fishing for in-shore saltwater redfish and snook.
Lisa: Gardening.
What’s a fucked up way you drink whiskey you probably wouldn’t tell anyone if you weren’t filling out this questionnaire?
Lisa: (laughter) I’m just not that odd. I mean, we mostly now are sippers on the rocks. I’m a plain vanilla whiskey drinker.
Barry: We got people that drink that peanut butter whiskey . . . the only weird thing we do is put odd ingredients in our liquor. Like smoked mullet gin. We actually put a smoked mullet in the gin basket.
[Please note the interview came to a brief crashing halt as All American Whiskey, a great fan of smoked mullet, had an ‘episode’]
Lisa: Barry has a picture to prove it.
Barry: we have a label we call lab gin. We make distilled gin, a London dry gin, so we don’t have to file a recipe with the government. Today we were making Holy Guacamole gin which is like gin with a bowl of guac and chips. We put avocado and cumin and lime and jalapenos along with juniper . . . but the smoked mullet . . . We call it triple jump gin. I got the idea because we had some customers who had a gin on the coast of Scotland that was made with oysters and oyster shells, but we have mullet here in Tarpon Springs. We gave it a shot and made smoked mullet gin. We use it in our Bloody Marys.
What’s a fucked up way someone you know drinks whiskey that makes you want to throw them off a cliff, and seriously, Jesus Hashtag Christ, why, Darryll? Why?
Barry: Mixed with coke. Actually, the thing that drives me craziest of all is all the people who demand to drink vodka. Vodka people drive me crazy.
Lisa: It would be bad to rat out the members of our bottle club who brought the Canadian club apple-flavored—
Barry: Fireball!
Lisa: Heinous!
What song will get you onto the floor no matter what?
Give a quote from a movie you obsess over:
(Lisa) There can be only one.
(Barry) So I go that going for me.
The Highlander; Caddyshack (in Murray’s voice)
Besides making whiskey, what do you do right?
Barry: I cook.
Lisa: Oh yeah.
Barry: that’s what got me into this in the first place: a love of flavors. Cooking with fire. Open fire cooking.
Lisa: I write well. Really. I was always the person that people got to read their term papers and shape them up. I’ve been doing that since I was in high school. I keep threatening to write fiction someday.
Sum up the essence of great whiskey with a single word.
Memorable.
What moment during your process strikes you as perfect?
Barry: The very first second that liquor pours off the still is perfect. No matter how many times it happens, it’s always exciting.
List three whiskies you love that aren’t yours.
- Glenmorangie Port Wood Scotch
- Dad’s Hat Rye
- Rampur Single Malt
Name the single most underrated or overlooked distillery in your state.
Njoy Distillery.
What was your most embarrassing mistake making whiskey?
We put ouzo in our gin bottles once. We fixed it pretty fast and got the bottles back. People were saying the gin tasted like licorice.
What are you reading?
xxx
What’s a moment in your life that made you realize life is goddam beautiful?
When the Rays went to the world series in 2008? If the Rays can go to the world series, what can’t happen? What is impossible?
Lisa: Watching the sun come up over Angkor Watt. Travel is everything.
Who would you like to see answer these questions?
Mike Cotherman Cotherman Distilling
