Florida Distilleries Craft Award-Winning Spirits With Local Grains
In partnership with: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Fresh From Florida distilleries are using locally grown commodities to craft award-winning spirits for even the most discriminating palates.
Raising Grains to Raise a Glass
When Kevin and Natalie Goff acquired an old hunting camp within the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area, Natalie’s dad suggested opening a distillery at the location. After her dad died, Natalie found an old book about distilling in his attic. “This is a sign,” she recalls telling Kevin, her husband. Initially skeptical, Kevin, a contractor by trade, eventually built a primitive still and began experimenting. By 2012, they were licensed as NJoy Spirits Distillery, a play on words that incorporates Natalie’s middle name, Joy.
The Goffs raise Florida 401 Black Rye for Wild Buck, a 100-proof rye whiskey. Filtered rainwater and the three-year aging process in oak barrels (without additives!) help create Wild Buck’s unique, gold-award-winning flavor profile.
They also grow sugar cane for their gold-medal-winning Mermaid Rum, named for the legendary “mermaids” that perform at nearby Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
Distillery tours include samples of whiskey, rum and ryes in Shine Moonshine, a 100% farm-grown, rye grain moonshine straight from the still. With beehives, citrus and olive trees, muscadine grapes and other crops, “Florida farm-grown” is an important talking point for Natalie. “Every single tour, I point to the ‘Fresh From Florida’ label on our bottles,” she says. “We encourage folks to support farmers like us and everyone who is getting their hands dirty growing things.”
See more: Tallahassee’s Proof Brewing Co. Finds Success With Award-Winning Flavors
Supporting Local Producers
Located on Aaron Barnes’ family farm near Crestview, Timber Creek Distillery was founded in 2014 to combine locally grown grains and limestone spring water (plus a healthy dash of time and effort) to create unique whiskeys. Barnes and his business partner and neighbor, Camden Ford, also make rum, gin and the award-winning Florida Vodka.
Timber Creek uses Florida 401 Black Rye, soft red winter wheat, yellow #2 dent corn and other locally sourced grains to distill single-grain whiskey.
“That’s very unique,” Ford says. “When we make our whiskeys, we create blends using the different single grains.” Their Florida Whiskey is a wheat bourbon blend, while their Southern Reserve Florida Whiskey is an award-winning combination of all four grains with a high rye content.
If you want to take the fun home with you, Timber Creek sells a bourbon blending kit, which includes small bottles of corn, Black Rye, single-malt barley and wheat whiskies, along with a mixing beaker and blending guide.
Timber Creek also supports local fruit growers. “We try to do theme weekends based on what’s in season,” Ford says. “Working with our local producers is a great relationship. It keeps all the revenue in the state, and we’re creating higher-value products out of their commodities.”