HOLLY HILL, Fla. – Jeremy Craig, Co-Founder of Holly Hill’s Copper Bottom Craft Distillery said he tried his first beer when he was 8-years-old.
“I was working in the yard with my dad, I don’t even know what made me think about it,” Craig said. “But I was like - you know what, Dad listen, I want to have a beer, and he said, okay, go get one. And that cured me – I don’t think I had another beer until I was 22.”
Craig grew up in a household full of beer, he said, his father and grandfather worked for breweries in Tampa – which got the family access for free booze.
“I never drank it, and my parents didn’t either. My dad was around it all day long. He came home stinking of beer, and he was like, I don’t want to drink it myself,” he said.
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Growing up learning the ins and outs of brewing and then studying biology in college eventually led him to open Copper Bottom Craft Distillery with his wife and parents, he said.
That was over eight years ago and on Tuesday, he was named ‘Master Distiller of Holly Hill,’ by the mayor.
The mayor and the community joined Craig at the distillery Tuesday night to watch him compete on Discovery Channel’s show ‘Moonshiners: Master Distiller.’
“It’s a competition show; they usually do one professional distiller and then two home distillers or backwoods distillers they call, and they run us through a bunch of different competitions. And whoever comes out on top at the end, they proclaim master distiller,” he said.
The episode Craig was on, the distillers competed to make ‘cachaca’ - which is a Brazil’s national spirit, according to Discovery’s website.
“I make rum every day, and that’s what we made on the show, was Brazilian form of rum, and I came out ahead, it was good,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the best part of being on the show was the friendships he made with the other competitors as he is still in touch with them to this day. To add on, he also said he was honored to be able to represent the small city of Holly Hill on the show.
“It was very cool to be able to represent, you know, our little town. We love this town; we love this area. I think it’s great that we’re able to do what we do here – I think it’s got a bigger impact in a smaller place like this than it would in Tampa, Orlando or Jacksonville,” he said.
Copper Bottom Craft Distiller is located at 998 N. Beach St. and is open Wednesday through Saturday. It also offers free tours and tastings, for more information click here.
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