(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Craft Distillery Whiskey Founders
South Central States Region
The South Central States Region includes the States of: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas
Below are links to Whiskey Founders that have made huge contributions to the growth of the South Central States Region’s Whiskey Industry. These may have been historical figures that lived long ago before prohibition or may be living leaders that have advanced the cause of the industry as a whole. Craft Whiskey has now been its own whiskey category for years.
1
Phil Brandon
Rock Town
Phil Brandon built a career in corporate America working for Alltel, the Little Rock-based telecommunications firm. The company’s 2009 purchase by Verizon was a hinge that forced a new career path. Brandon chose a completely different route, and at that point, he left his corporate job to pursue distilling.
2
Luca Čutura
Seven Three
Luka Čutura took coursework through the American Distilling Institute to sharpen his technical foundation, then stepped into the role that would define the next phase of his life: Head Distiller /Manager of a new venture, named Seven Three Distilling, which is named after New Orleans’ 73 distinct neighborhoods.
3
Dan Garrison
Garrison Brothers
Garrison's introduction to distilling did not come from family heritage or Kentucky tradition. Instead, it began with independent research. Determined to learn how bourbon was made at the highest level, he traveled to Kentucky in 2004, where he spent time studying operations at some of the most legendary distilleries in the country.
4
Jared Himstedt
Balcones
Himstedt and Balcones began releasing age-stated single malts, bottled-in-bond expressions, and limited-edition single barrel programs that have gained national recognition. In 2015, Balcones Texas Single Malt won “Best American Single Malt” at the World Whiskies Awards. Since then, Balcones has earned more than 200 medals.
5
Mike & Dana Hoey
Red Fork
Mike and Dana bought a 250-gallon copper still, read technical manuals late into the night, and stood shoulder to shoulder while tanks were installed and ventilation was planned. They encountered the slow, patient bureaucracy of licensing and Oklahoma’s then-restrictive rules on on-site sales, the kind of problems that test both a distiller’s and a couple’s resolve.
6
Marlene Holmes
Milam & Greene
In 2018, Marlene Holmes serendipitously met Marsha Milam, founder of Milam & Greene Whiskey, who was seeking someone to lead distillation at her nascent Texas craft operation. The two women hit it off immediately. Ultimately, Holmes, then 62, decided to leave Kentucky, sold her farm, packed up, and moved to Texas.
7
Steve Ison
Rebecca Creek
In 2008, Steve Ison started seriously exploring the idea of distilling spirits in Texas. At that time, no major craft whiskey distilleries operated there. Ison knew very little about distilling, so to fill that gap, he traveled to distilling schools around the country and studied the processes involved. He then met Master Distiller Eric Watson and recruited him as an adviser.
8
Garret Janko
Scissortail
Garrett Janko founded Scissortail Distillery in Moore, Oklahoma. He described Scissortail as a “starting anew” phase: a self-funded distillery built without outside control, where decisions could be made based on what the business could realistically support rather than what looked impressive on paper.
9
Tommy McDaniel
Hochatown
Tommy McDaniel has described Hochatown Distillery as a dream he carried for roughly 25 years, tracing its origin back to his college days. As a chemical engineer, his formal training fits the way the distillery would later define itself. After spending two decades living away, he returned home to fulfill his vision.
10
Phillip Mestayer
Distillerie Acadian
Phillip Mestayer researched mashing and distillation and began building his own fermentation and distillation equipment. It was not a plug-and-play startup. It was fabrication, iteration, and the slow accumulation of competence. Distillerie Acadian began distilling spirit after permits were received in 2016.
11
Brad Nethery
Oak & Eden
Nethery’s transition into spirits began through a professional relationship with entrepreneur Joe Giildenzopf. The two first connected through branding projects when Giildenzopf hired Neathery for design work. They quickly realized they shared not only compatible creative instincts but also a mutual appreciation for bourbon.
12
Ale Ochoa
TX Whiskey
Ale’s role was to build and run a formal sensory program: training panels, quantifying aroma and flavor, and ensuring quality and consistency from new-make through maturation to the bottled whiskey. She described the day-to-day work as “sampling and quantifying the aromas and flavors of whiskey.”
13
Donnis Todd
Garrison Brothers
Within a year, Donnis Todd’s interest in the distillation process was noticed, and he began training in distillation and barrel management. He learned to run Garrison’s pot stills, design custom fermentation regimens, and catalogue barrels by season and location to understand how the Texas heat and humidity shaped maturation.
14
Harvey Williams, Jr.
Delta Dirt
Harvey, Jr., and Donna Williams moved toward the long-awaited return home to Helena, Arkansas. By 2017, they founded Delta Dirt Distillery and beginning the long process of converting a downtown building into a working distillery. By 2020, the first production run was completed.
15
David Wood
Woodworks
David Wood visited an Ohio craft distillery while dropping his son off at college. The visit did not instantly turn him into a distiller, but it gave shape to a question he had already been circling: what would it look like to build a craft business rooted in Oklahoma, one that combined the skills he had spent a lifetime perfecting?