Grit & Grains: How William H. Macy Became Woody Creek Distillers’ “spokesdude”

More than 100 years ago, the Roaring Fork Valley around Aspen was one of the country’s premier potato-growing regions. More potatoes came from the valley than all of Idaho in the 1920s, and Carbondale alone exported about 400 railroad cars filled with potatoes annually. Then, in the 1930s, more mechanized farming equipment and lower potato prices largely put a stop to the area’s potato industry. That history of quality potatoes isn’t forgotten at Woody Creek Distillers, however, where local potatoes are the backbone of the company’s vodka and gins.

There’s a reason potato farms moved to other parts of the country. Clearing rocky fields is tough work even in modern times, as is sourcing enough potatoes for a 100 percent local potato vodka that immediately racked up awards—including spirits awards not typically given to vodkas. Today, Woody Creek Distillers still uses Rio Grande potatoes for all of its unaged spirits. Some come from around the ranch in Woody Creek, while the rest come from farms in the San Luis Valley. All distillation, however, still happens just after the fresh, three-month-old potatoes are harvested in September and October.

“The ability to have products grown in Colorado was really important to us,” says Mary Scanlan, CEO of Woody Creek Distillers. The local-first ethos continues with the distillery’s bourbons and ryes that use 100 percent Colorado grains. It is not just a feel-good thing to be hyper-focused on raw ingredients from Colorado. “It has a big taste impact,” Scanlan continues.

A lot of outreach, relationship building, and spreadsheets go into local sourcing that can meet the demand for Woody Creek’s six spirits. “You start to understand why other distilleries take shortcuts,” Scanlan says. “But we really believed that wasn’t the way to do it,” and “there’s a lot of pride in working with Colorado farmers and growers.”

Woody Creek’s community-first approach was also the catalyst that led to actor William H. Macy becoming a partner and “spokesdude” for the brand.

Felicity Huffman introduced Macy to her hometown of Woody Creek when they were dating. They married in 1997 and lived in New York City and Los Angeles. When Huffman’s mother died, they bought the Woody Creek house Huffman grew up in.

“When I fly to L.A., I start holding my breath,” Macy says. “And when I return to Woody Creek, I exhale. It’s just a mindset.”

Huffman’s family home is also how Macy’s connection to Woody Creek Distillers started. Mark Kleckner, cofounder and operating partner of Woody Creek Distillers, lived next to the home and asked about planting potatoes on their fields to use for potato vodka. A friendship ensued, and Macy joined the distillery as spokesdude in 2018.

Macy was primarily a bourbon and Scotch drinker before moving to Colorado, and notes that he has “always been fascinated by distillation.” Speaking with Macy on the phone, the fascination is clear: his appreciation of Woody Creek’s 100 percent rye whiskey led to a research rabbit hole about rye’s role in whiskey production dating back to the Founding Fathers. “Rye whiskey was America’s whiskey,” Macy says. “And now I’m crazy about it.”

Particularly, of course, the rye from Woody Creek Distillers. Macy describes the distillery and its CARL stills from the oldest distillery fabricator in Germany as “romantic” for a gearhead like himself. Visit the distillery tasting room at the right time and you might catch Macy strumming his ukulele and singing his drinking songs—Macy is a longtime player and is rarely without a ukulele. He posted a video playing his song about Woody Creek Tavern, of Hunter S. Thompson fame, during pandemic closures. When things reopened, he took his songs to the tasting room and events where he plays for anyone who cares to listen.

Macy’s love for Woody Creek Rye eventually led to the 2023 limited release of William H. Macy Reserve. He joined a small group of tasters to try eight samples of barrel-proof whiskey for a special bottling. Three whiskeys in particular stood out, and a second round of pours revealed a clear winner: a whiskey Woody Creek made in 2013 using an 80 percent rye and 20 percent malted barley mash bill. “I chose that, and to my great relief and pride, three of the other guys did too,” Macy says. Then, chuckling, adds, “but I’m the movie star, so we put my name on it.”

A few days after our call, Macy would head to the blind tasting for the second William H. Macy Reserve release. Naturally, Colorado rye was top of mind and he requested only straight rye barrels.

“Woody Creek has Colorado all over it,” Macy says. In addition to local base ingredients, the water is “as pure and as magnificent as it could get.”

The mountains provide more than magnificent water. Woody Creek’s gin uses lemongrass from Osage Gardens in Rifle, and part of the juniper that’s used is hand-picked Rocky Mountain juniper.

“The gin has been a bit of a labor of love,” Scanlan says. Former distiller David Matthews would gather wild juniper berries on hikes around the area, and a long process of taste-testing different batches for a gin ensued. It was a hit, and a second gin that’s naturally purple from pea flower blossoms called Mary’s Select Gin, with a flavor profile led by Scanlan, followed. Some botanicals have to be sourced from outside the state (Colorado certainly isn’t known for its citrus), but at the core of both gins is a base of Colorado potato vodka.

Woody Creek Distillers has crossed the decade mark, and there’s plenty of quality, well-aged barrels waiting to join the ranks alongside the rye, bourbon, gins, Reserve, and vodka—whether that’s a single barrel program, a new special release, or in the next iteration of the William H. Macy Reserve. “It’s never the same thing every day,” Scanlan says.

Whatever comes next, you can bet it will be a true Colorado spirit through and through.

Cocktail Recipes

“The Monarch is a bold spiced cocktail that is perfect for a brisk autumn evening. Woody Creek Bourbon shines while complemented by complex chai botanical notes.”— Sean Kenyon, Williams & Graham and Occidental Owner

“This cocktail is bright and refreshing. It leans floral with a nice orange undertone. A perfect cocktail to wake up your taste buds!”— Sean Kenyon, Williams & Graham and Occidental Owner