Woody Creek Distillers: Keeping Things Clean for Top Quality
2026 Update: Woody Creek Distillers is still going strong — and has an exciting new chapter. The distillery is now women-owned, operating out of Basalt, Colorado in the Roaring Fork Valley at 6,600 feet elevation. Their founding commitment to growing and sourcing nearly all ingredients within 250 miles of the distillery, mashing, distilling, and bottling entirely in Colorado, and never blending with outside neutral grain spirits remains unchanged.
The product lineup has grown considerably since this interview. In addition to the Potato Vodka, Gin, and Rye Whiskey discussed below, Woody Creek now produces multiple Straight Bourbons, a Colorado High Rye 70/30 Bourbon, Mary’s Select Gin, and the William H. Macy Reserve, among others. Learn more about the current leadership and lineup at woodycreekdistillers.com.
CrushBrew Editorial · Spirits · Originally published c. 2015 — updated 2026
When it comes to distilling spirits, Woody Creek Distillers has one goal: to make nothing but the finest craft spirits, each with a unique taste and character true to the origins of that spirit. For them, that means growing and harvesting many of the ingredients themselves, and collaborating with local Colorado farms to source the rest. We talked to Keith Hemeon, then Vice President of Sales, to find out more about the distillery’s commitment to local production and clean, high-quality spirits.
How did Woody Creek get started?
Keith Hemeon: Our founder Patrick Scanlan knew about the history of growing potatoes in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado and reached out to his best friend, Mark Kleckner. In a former life they were engineers performing sub-contract work for the defense industry, and they had always enjoyed drinking vodka — specifically potato vodka.
What inspired its creation, and how did you get involved?
KH: The inspiration was Patrick Scanlan. He believed that right outside of Aspen, Colorado he could grow his own potatoes and produce single-distilled, world-class vodka from fresh potatoes harvested that same day.
I was working for Southern Wine and Spirits in Aspen/Snowmass as a sales consultant when a close friend who was working for Woody Creek asked me to come by and check out the distillery. Once I walked in the door, I knew how special it was — and I knew I wanted to be part of it.
You grow some ingredients yourself and source others locally. Why?
KH: We grow all of our own potatoes locally in the Roaring Fork Valley — close to 1.5 million pounds — which produces our Potato Vodka and Gin. We also grow Rye near Fort Collins, Colorado for our Colorado Straight Rye Whiskey. We purchase Barley, Malted Barley, Corn, and Wheat from local Colorado farmers across the state.
You’ve made a commitment not to blend with base spirits from other distillers. Why?
KH: Simple. We feel that the “Handcrafted” label we put on every bottle should stand for solely producing every drop that goes into it. Purchasing Neutral Grain Spirit from out of state and then blending it in confuses the consumer on what is actually “Made in Colorado” or “Handmade.” There are only a handful of craft distilleries that produce 100% of their own product.
You produce a 100 percent potato vodka. What makes it different?
KH: It all starts in the potato fields. We grow about 1.3 million pounds of potatoes annually exclusively for vodka distillation. Our Potato Vodka is single-distilled, unfiltered, and moves from the soil to the bottle in about five days. We only produce our vodkas three months out of the year during fall harvest.
The WCD Potato Vodka won a Double Gold Medal at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and took the overall “Best in Show” for the entire vodka category.
What other spirits do you produce?
KH: We produce a Colorado Gin made from our potato distillation, and a Colorado Straight Rye Whiskey made from Colorado Rye that we grow and harvest ourselves. To my knowledge it was the only Rye from Colorado using 100% Colorado Rye for its mash bill — aged close to three years in our own temperature-controlled rack house.
What was next for the distillery at that time?
KH: We had a few more aged spirits on the horizon — a Colorado Whiskey, Rum, and eventually Bourbon.
As the 2026 update above notes, the Bourbon lineup has since arrived in full — and then some.
