Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Missy and Joe of Indian Creek Distillery to trace a sixth-generation family whiskey legacy and the hidden copper pot stills that survived Prohibition. We taste frontier-style spirits, talk craft versus efficiency, and explore why Ohio’s whiskey story deserves more attention. • the Staley family farm history and why the stills were hidden • what makes double copper pot still distillation slower and more flavorful • direct fire heat, consistency, and why modern control still matters • naming the stills and learning to “know your girls” • Joe’s background in engineering, farming, and small business before distilling • navigating federal and Ohio regulations while building a craft distillery • the on-site frontier whiskey experience and why it converts first-time visitors • tasting unaged rye white dog, mash bill, proof, and cocktail uses • the story behind the single surviving pre Prohibition bottle • tasting Bond House bourbon, high corn recipe, small barrel aging, cask strength texture Give a shout out to your website and everything: minifreekdistillery.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, we make free distillery, and we have a lot of events. So come up, see us. www.scotchybourbonboys.com and then also Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, along with iHeart, Apple, Spotify. Whether you listen to us or watch us, make sure you leave us good feedback or become members or leave us super chats and everything. Two hundred year old copper pot stills are not supposed to be “operational,” but at Indian Creek Distillery they are the beating heart of a living Ohio whiskey legacy. We’re joined by Missy Staley, a direct descendant of the original distilling family, and Joe, the hands-on distiller who helped bring the operation back in 2011 after the stills were hidden away when Prohibition hit. What follows is part history lesson, part craft masterclass, and part tasting session you can almost smell through your headphones. We dig into why double copper pot still distillation creates a different spirit than modern column production: slower runs, more character, and those heavier flavor oils that give pot still bourbon and rye a signature mouthfeel. We also talk direct-fire distilling, why they use propane instead of wood, and how “inefficient” can be a feature when your goal is quality and authenticity. Joe shares how an engineering and small-business background helped, but also why the stills themselves teach you if you let them do what they’re built to do. Then we get into the bottles. We taste their unaged rye “white dog” and break down the mash bill and why it works even as a cocktail base. Missy tells the wild story of the one surviving pre-Prohibition bottle in the family, and we finish with a bold Bond House bourbon pour that shows what high-corn recipes and barrel aging can become at cask strength. If you care about craft distilling, historic American whiskey, and the growing Ohio bourbon scene, this conversation is a must. Subscribe, share the show with a whiskey-loving friend, and leave a review so more people can find these stories. What’s the one tradition you think the whiskey world should never “modernize” away? If You Have Gohsts voice over Whiskey Thief Support the show https://www.scotchybourbonboys.com The Scotchy bourbon Boys are #3 in Feedspots Top 60 whiskey podcasts in the world https://podcast.feedspot.com/whiskey_podcasts/
