Mike Diaz
Michael “Mike” Diaz is best known as the co-founder and longtime CFO of St. Augustine Distillery. Together with co-founder Philip McDaniel, Diaz helped prove that premium bourbon could be conceived, distilled, matured, and bottled in Florida without sacrificing authenticity or quality. He is a determined entrepreneur who believed that Florida's agriculture, climate, and history could produce a distinctive bourbon worthy of standing alongside the country's more established whiskey regions.
Diaz was born on April 21, 1962, a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, who began his spirits project in 2011. At that time, friends Diaz and McDaniel first developed plans for a distillery that would reflect the agricultural identity of his home state while becoming an important destination within the nation's oldest city. They believed that visitors increasingly wanted authentic experiences built around local products rather than anonymous industrial manufacturing. After identifying the dormant Florida Power & Light Ice Plant in St. Augustine's historic Lincolnville neighborhood, they purchased the property in November 2012, and undertook an extensive restoration that preserved the building's historic character while adapting it for modern distilling. The restoration itself became part of the company's identity, earning preservation and adaptive reuse awards soon after completion.
From the outset, Diaz insisted that the company's whiskey should genuinely represent Florida rather than imitate other states. His objective was not simply to manufacture bourbon within state lines, but to create a spirit built around Florida-grown agricultural products whenever practical. Florida corn and wheat became important components of the wheated mash bill, while local agriculture remained central to the distillery's philosophy. Diaz repeatedly emphasized that there was no reason Kentucky should have an exclusive claim to outstanding bourbon, provided producers elsewhere respected the same standards of craftsmanship and patience required by the spirit itself.
Patience quickly became one of the company's greatest challenges. Because bourbon requires years of barrel maturation before release, the distillery could not immediately market the whiskey it most wanted to produce. When St. Augustine Distillery opened to visitors in March 2014, its first commercial spirit was vodka, followed by gin and later rum. Those products generated revenue while thousands of barrels of bourbon quietly matured inside warehouses subjected to Florida's subtropical climate. Diaz never presented those interim spirits as replacements for bourbon; instead, they were practical necessities while the company's flagship whiskey slowly developed. That patience paid dividends in September 2016 when St. Augustine Distillery released Florida Double Cask Bourbon, promoted as the first bourbon fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled entirely within the state of Florida after Prohibition. The release represented more than another craft whiskey entering the marketplace. It demonstrated that Florida possessed the climate, raw materials, and technical expertise necessary to produce serious bourbon. The distillery later refined its flagship expression into Florida Straight Bourbon while expanding into barrel-finished releases that showcased both innovation and regional partnerships.
Diaz also became one of the strongest public advocates for understanding how Florida's climate influences whiskey maturation. Unlike Kentucky, where seasonal changes slow barrel interaction during colder months, coastal Florida subjects bourbon to sustained heat and humidity throughout most of the year. Diaz frequently observed that "our barrels never sleep," describing how continuous expansion and contraction accelerate extraction from the oak. Angel's share losses can exceed twenty percent after only three years, forcing the distillery to rethink barrel sizes, entry proof, bung design, and even the source of its cooperage. Rather than viewing Florida's climate as a handicap, Diaz regarded it as part of the whiskey's terroir—an environmental influence that helped create a bourbon impossible to duplicate elsewhere.
Continuous improvement became another defining feature of Diaz's philosophy. Early consultation from legendary distiller Dave Pickerell helped establish the production system, but Diaz openly acknowledged that mastering bourbon required years of experience. As the distillery matured, nationally respected maturation expert Nancy Fraley joined the team to refine blending, proofing, and barrel management. Diaz welcomed outside expertise while maintaining confidence that every improvement strengthened a uniquely Floridian whiskey rather than changing its identity. The willingness to learn, adapt, and improve became one of the hallmarks of St. Augustine Distillery's bourbon program.
In addition to his distilling interests, Mike has always been clear that family is his highest priority in life. He is married to Kelly Diaz, and the couple share four adult children: Carmen, Evan, Maya, and Aidan. Mike and Kelly make their home in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
By the distillery's tenth anniversary in 2024, Diaz could look back on a decade that had transformed an abandoned and unused ice plant into one of Florida's signature whiskey destinations. Anniversary releases featuring some of the distillery's oldest bourbon barrels symbolized how far the enterprise had progressed from its earliest experiments He helped establish Florida as a credible bourbon-producing state, demonstrated that climate and geography can shape a distinctive American whiskey, and proved that careful craftsmanship, local agriculture, and historical preservation can together create a bourbon with a genuine sense of place.
Sources:
Distiller, “St. Augustine Distillery: America’s Spirit from America’s Oldest City,” Jake Emen, January 14, 2021, distiller.com
St. Augustine Distillery, “Looking Towards the Future on Our 10th Anniversary,” March 19, 2024, staugustinedistillery.com
St. Augustine Distillery, “St. Augustine Distillery Celebrates 8 Years: ‘The Spirit of Florida’,” March 18, 2022, staugustinedistillery.com
St. Augustine Distillery, “Our Story,” staugustinedistillery.com
Voyage Jacksonville, “Community Highlights: Meet Michael Diaz of St Augustine Distillery,” December 5, 2024, voyagejacksonville.com
Whiskey University, “Philip McDaniel,” contributed by David Waddell, whiskeyuniv.com
Florida's Historic Coast, “Celebrating 10 Years of The Spirit of Florida,” March 13, 2024, floridashistoriccoast.com
St. Augustine Distillery, “The Legend of ‘Day One Danny’,” October 13, 2021, staugustinedistillery.com
Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee
