June 9, 2025 • 22 mins
Ray Hooker sits down at Indian River Distillery to share the story behind Vero Beach's premier craft spirits destination. As a third-generation Indian River County resident with deep local ties, Ray brings an authentic Florida perspective that challenges the theme park and beach stereotype visitors often associate with the Sunshine State.
The journey from landscaper to distiller wasn't a straightforward one. After fourteen years building a successful lawn and pest control company with nineteen employees, Ray found himself seeking a creative outlet. What began as experimentation with home distilling ("allegedly," as Ray jokes) evolved into a full-scale spirits operation that celebrates both craftsmanship and local heritage. Now two years into business, Indian River Distillery has established itself as both a production facility and a cultural touchstone.
What sets this distillery apart is its unwavering commitment to quality and education. "Our cocktails aren't really fancy," Ray explains. "They are simple cocktails executed properly with high-quality ingredients." This philosophy extends throughout the business—from refusing to serve shots in favor of teaching proper whiskey appreciation, to naming products after historical figures like the notorious Ashley Gang. Each bottle tells a story about Florida's rebellious past, which Ray proudly acknowledges as part of the state's authentic character.
The family business—run with wife Mandy and 16-year-old son Chandler—maintains a loyal staff who've been onboard since opening day. This stability reflects Ray's leadership approach: communicate clearly, follow through on promises, and strategically drive the business rather than react to daily challenges. As Ray puts it, there's wisdom that comes with age, even if it trades off with the boundless energy of youth.
Visit Indian River Distillery to experience what Ray affectionately calls "the world's largest Mayberry"—a place where quality spirits, Florida history, and community values come together in every carefully crafted glass. Your taste buds and your appreciation for authentic Florida will thank you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian (00:00):
All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
I'm Brian and.
Shawna (00:04):
I'm Shawna.
Brian (00:05):
And today we are sitting at the Indian River Distillery
with Ray Ray.
I'm sorry, what was your lastname?
Ray Hooker, ray Hooker, rayHooker, we're so excited to be
able to sit down and learn moreabout your story and how the
Indian River Distillery came tobe.
But before we get started,would you mind just kind of
introduce yourself a little bitand tell everybody a little bit
about yourself?
Ray (00:26):
Well, my name is Ray Hooker .
I am from Indian River County,my dad's from Indian River
County and my grandfather isactually born and raised in
Indian River County too.
I've been in the community formy whole life.
I've been a business ownerlocally for 20 years now.
I've been a Rotarian locallyfor 20 years now.
I've been a Rotarian locallyfor 20 years, so involved in, uh
(00:48):
you know, service work and uh,enjoy our little town.
Brian (00:53):
That is awesome, and you gave us some uh, some whiskey to
be able to sit down here andenjoy as well.
What kind is this?
Ray (00:59):
This is a, a blend of our first batch of bourbon we
created and a 45% wheat that wehand selected out of Indiana.
So in order to make ours lastlonger it's not quite ready yet
we blend it with other whiskeysthat we brought in, and this is
(01:19):
a Ray Lynn's reserve, and RayLynn isn't me.
Ray Lynn is Ray Lynn, one ofthe notorious Ashley gang, which
I'm sure we'll get into alittle bit later.
Shawna (01:30):
We must get into that, because we want to talk about
the scavenger hunt.
Oh, yeah, yeah, we saw that.
Brian (01:35):
We saw that on your uh, on your Instagram.
We'd love to hear you knowabout your story behind, where
you know how you started theIndian river distillery.
But before we go there, whatwere you doing before this Cause
?
I'm sure you weren't doing this, since you're like a little
ladder.
Ray (01:49):
No, no, not at all.
It was 14 years before this, soI think 2006,.
Uh, we started a lawn,landscape and pest control
company.
And when I say started, webought a trailer and mower and
put it on a credit card.
And pest control company.
And when I say started, webought a trailer and mower and
put it on a credit card and Iwent out and started beating on
doors and and finding customers.
(02:11):
We did that for 14 years.
We had as many as 19 employeesand got kind of burnt out doing
that.
So we switched over to a hobby.
Uh, we, we sold the lawn andlandscape and pest control
company and used that to fundthe starting of Indian River
Distillery.
Brian (02:28):
How did the idea come to you to actually launch this
business?
Ray (02:33):
I'm going to say a lot of allegedly when I talk about this
, or possibly, possibly.
Okay, possibly there were somestills that were being made,
possibly there were some stillsthat were being made and
possibly, allegedly, we mighthave experimented around with
that a few friends and myselfand there was nothing really
(02:53):
like this around and we thoughtit would be a great idea to do
and it would be fun and I couldbe a little bit creative,
Although I don't seem like acreative artistic type person.
Shawna (03:08):
This is kind of my way of doing that.
Are you happy to be workinginside more so, as opposed to
outside, when you werelandscaping and everything?
Ray (03:14):
Yes, and the original plans for this were my production
area was going to be airconditioned, and when costs
started doubling and doubling,that went out the window pretty
quick.
So it's pretty hot back theretoo.
It's not right out in the sunand, yes, this is much easier on
my body than landscaping.
Brian (03:33):
Yeah, that's good.
Well, I have to say, ray, likethere's a business gentleman
that I'm friends with and he'sin Tampa area and we used to
always meet on zoom meetings andI got to meet him in person and
he saw me.
He's like you look so muchtaller on your zoom meetings.
I'm like dude, like that'sbecause I raised my chair up to
(03:54):
kind of, you know, be a littlebit more like, you know,
intimidating.
Don't call me out.
But when I pulled up and ray,like he has this jacked up old,
that's an old f-250 out there,right, yeah, and I'm either.
Either he has a ladder to getup in there.
He's a tall guy and you're abig guy.
So I was like wow.
I was like, okay, well, sean, ifyou're listening, I I haven't
challenged you to stand next toRay, but uh, but no, it's, it's
(04:17):
a really cool to be able to meetyou in person and and get to
get Getting into the spirits andcrafting.
Ray (04:28):
No, no, I didn't, not until I started playing with it, and
I think that was 2014 or 2013 wefirst started messing around
with it.
Fermentation always kind ofinterested me.
I'm not a very big beer person,I'm not really big on wine, but
I do drink spirits.
(04:49):
I like spirits.
My favorite spirit was singlemalt, but now that I've
experienced a little bit more, Ikind of like all of them.
There's nothing really I don'tlike.
Brian (05:01):
You're going to educate me a lot, probably during this
too, so explain the differenceof spirits.
So what is spirits, consideredspecifically?
Ray (05:09):
Spirits would be a distilled alcohol.
Okay, so the distillationprocess is using heat and
capturing the alcohol vapor asit comes off and then
recondensing that vapor.
So we know that alcoholvaporizes at a temperature lower
than water does.
So that's how we dodistillation.
(05:30):
So think of, if you're boilinga pot of spaghetti and you put
the lid on it, the condensationwhen you pick up the lid and it
runs off.
That's a very simplifiedversion of what distillation is.
We capture all of that and tryto make sure, through
temperature control, what wecapture is alcohol, not water.
Through temperature control,what we capture is alcohol, not
water.
So you name the spirit by itsbase material.
(05:53):
For one Rum would come fromsugar cane and whiskey would
come from grain.
Now, single malt whiskey is amalted barley whiskey that's
made from one distillery in oneseason.
Bourbon is a whiskey that'smade from at least 51% corn.
The rest has to be another typeof grain.
(06:15):
It needs to be made in the USand it has to be put into a
brand-new charred oak barrel.
So think of whiskey as cola.
Like a generic A generic termfor things that are like this,
and then all of the other namesare the different types of it.
Shawna (06:35):
So rye is a type of whiskey.
Ray (06:37):
Rye is a type of whiskey.
Shawna (06:38):
Bourbon is a type of whiskey, but it's only made in
America, right, correct?
Ray (06:41):
Yep.
Shawna (06:42):
What's another type of whiskey?
Ray (06:44):
Irish whiskey Irish, yeah.
Scotch whiskey Okay.
Malt whiskey.
All of those are differenttypes.
Some of those are regionaldesignations of where the
whiskey would come from, butothers are the type of whiskey
that they are.
Shawna (07:03):
That is so interesting.
I feel like I want a notebookthat I can take notes, because
first of all I didn't knowthat's how distilling even works
, so that was fascinating.
Brian (07:12):
Well, it's actually interesting too, Cause there was
a time I went through where Icouldn't like we used, I used to
enjoy having a glass of wine,but then it would cause me to
have migraines.
So I was like, I don't know,let me try a bourbon.
And uh, I can now luckily havewine again.
But it took, like I don't knowwhat, six years or something
like that probably.
Shawna (07:29):
Yeah, probably, so I could actually even do that.
Brian (07:31):
Try brandy.
Shawna (07:32):
Once he found out how much he liked bourbon.
Then we started perfecting ourold-fashioned recipe.
Brian (07:37):
Now perfecting doesn't mean perfecting, like compared
here, We've had yourold-fashioned stuff here and
it's not.
Ray (07:43):
I'll tell you how to make it.
Okay, all right, our cocktails.
They're not really fancy, theyare simple cocktails executed
properly.
Yeah.
Shawna (07:59):
With high quality, right With high quality ingredients.
Ray (08:01):
Well, that's properly.
So if you don't overcomplicateit, if you just do it properly,
you don't have to put the flareon it, you don't have to put
gold sparkles on the side orlight it on fire or any of those
things.
As a just a kind of an aside,we do a contract bottling for
that.
That's one of the things ourlicense allows us to do.
(08:23):
So people have brands, but theydon't have a distillery, so
they want to have a rum brand.
Brands, but they don't have adistillery, so they want to have
a rum brand.
So we have a guy, mike Streeter, from Down Island Spirits.
He lives down the road and webottle his rum brand for him.
(08:45):
Mike does really really nicerums, really unique rums.
He goes and sources this reallycool barrel from this place or
this really cool barrel fromthat place and uh, one of the
barrels we had come in, uh, afew weeks back, uh, the
distillery was new Yarmouth, outof Jamaica, and I wasn't really
familiar with it.
Um and uh, I tasted the rum andit was really really nice.
(09:06):
And uh, I was telling Michael,our bartender, who's a rum nerd,
this is an 18-year-old from NewYarmouth and he says, well,
that's Ray and Nephew and I saidcool.
And he goes no, it's an18-year-old Ray and Nephew,
that's the original rum from theMai Tai from the 1940s.
(09:27):
That was long lost.
They don't have this rumanymore.
They don't sell it on themarket.
So every Mai Tai that's beenmade since the 60s has been made
with the wrong rum.
Shawna (09:40):
Can we?
Ray (09:40):
make a Mai Tai Absolutely Wow.
And we made a basic Mai Tai outof the proper rum.
Mike made the almond syrup togo in it.
We squeezed the fruit.
Mai Tai is my new favoritecocktail.
It's so good.
Shawna (09:56):
I believe it.
I believe it because when Icame for our first visit, which
I'll tell you about in a littlebit, I had a daiquiri, which
I've never normally ordereddaiquiri.
But when I saw it on the menuand I saw the description, I
thought that sounds delicious.
So I tried it and it wasdelicious.
So fresh, so, like you'resaying, simple, but you can
(10:19):
taste the quality.
Yeah, it's just.
You know, there's nothing worsethan a cocktail with, like, a
bottled sour mix or a bottledwine juice.
Ray (10:27):
You can tell, absolutely Now is this like a familyled
sour mix or a bottled wine juice?
You can tell, absolutely.
Brian (10:31):
Now is this like a family-owned business too, Yep
myself, Mandy and Chandler.
Ray (10:35):
Wow, oh, wow.
Shawna (10:36):
How old is your son?
Ray (10:38):
16.
Oh, good Wow.
Shawna (10:40):
He's a little business, tycoon, that's awesome.
Brian (10:43):
He might not be little.
I mean, is he as tall?
Ray (10:46):
as you, he's 6, two.
Yeah, he's a big little kid.
Brian (10:51):
He's a big little kid.
I like that.
What have you loved most aboutrunning a family?
Like doing this together?
Ray (10:58):
That's, that's hard to ask in the first couple of years of
a new business, because the whenyou're running a business that
way you're able to pull away andyou can take time.
And right now I can't pull away.
You know, as much as I'd liketo.
I can more now than I couldlast year and it will get better
progressively better over thenext few years.
(11:18):
I like having creative controlover things.
That kind of makes me soundlike I'm a control freak, but no
, I can do quality controlreally well on all aspects well,
and you said you're two yearsin right now.
Brian (11:32):
Is that correct?
So I mean, it is you'rebirthing this baby right now, so
it needs your eyes and yourhands on it to kind of make sure
it's going the direction youwant it to go need your
influence absolutely talkingabout influence, what is the
experience you're hoping to givethe community of Vero here at
(11:53):
the Indian River Distillery?
Ray (11:55):
That's a good question.
I'd like to educate them onproper spirits, responsible
alcohol use and our history andcommunity.
I love that, if you notice, youknow we were talking a little
bit before we got started aboutthe historic aspect of all of
our brands.
Yes, because I want to use thatas an education tool to people
(12:19):
for our area.
A lot of people don't knowthese stories and I get
frustrated.
I've dealt with people movinghere for years and years with
our previous business and justbeing out in the community.
People look at Florida asDisneyland, as Miami as
Jacksonville.
They have no idea the historyor the culture that is Florida.
(12:44):
They see some of the things ourstate does in national media
they say, wow, florida's alittle not right.
Yeah, we kind of are, andthere's a reason for that.
There's a reason for that.
We definitely have a rebelliousstreak and we're proud of it.
Yes, I love that.
Brian (13:04):
Have you ever read that book?
A Land?
Shawna (13:07):
Remembered.
I'm so thankful that I foundthat book early in our residency
in Florida because it did giveme a whole different view of
what Florida is, who the peopleare, where they've come from,
what they had to conquer to evenget to this place in history.
I mean, if anyone hasn't readthat book and you want to know
(13:29):
about Florida, it's eye-openingand terrifying.
Ray (13:32):
I remember Patrick W Smith right.
Shawna (13:34):
Yep, that's right Excellent book.
Brian (13:37):
Yeah, it changes your whole outlook on Florida.
Ray (13:39):
It does.
I used to carry those books inmy truck and when new customers
would come in from out of state,I would say this is required
reading to be a customer of ours.
Shawna (13:47):
That is so smart that's good.
I think about differentpassages in that book.
Every time I walk through oldgrowth forests, when I walk
through the places that haven'tbeen tamed, I think the whole
state was like this at one point.
Brian (14:02):
You're talking about, like having the customers read
that, which I think is a greatidea.
Uh, how about your employeeslike your?
Ray (14:08):
team.
Oh, we've all yeah, we've allread that we talk about things
like that you know we stopped bybefore.
Brian (14:13):
We like to stop in, check out some places before we.
You know well, we were going toreach out to you, but you
reached out to us.
We're like, yes, this isawesome, this is perfect, can't
wait to have on the podcast.
And here we are.
But we came and the bartender Idon't remember who it was
working that evening.
Shawna (14:27):
I wish I knew his name.
Brian (14:28):
He was awesome Older guy, Bill Bill Yep.
Bill Yep, that's exactly who itwas.
He was amazing, so you couldtell they really enjoy what they
do.
Ray (14:47):
And that really comes through a Bill, michael and
Kelsey.
Kelsey is my niece, so she'snot going anywhere unless I
disappear in a hole somewhere.
We're glad to have Kelsey.
I love Kelsey to death.
Kelsey is the young one of thegroup, so I like to harass her.
Then we have Michael.
Michael is 30, I believe, butmost of his career as a
bartender was at places likeDisney or the Broadmoor in
(15:08):
Colorado, so he has really goodcocktail experience and he has a
genuine creative side withdoing all this.
And that's kind of what you'vegot to have here.
Sure, because we aren't a bar,we're a tasting room for a
distillery.
So we can't buy vermouth, wecan't buy Campari, we can't buy
(15:28):
all of these different things.
We have to serve what weproduce.
So that makes you need to bereally creative and you can't
lean on some of the extras.
We can't buy Curacao or orangeliqueur, we have to make it.
And then we have Bill, who youguys met, who I think he's 35
(15:52):
years in bartending, all of iton Bourbon Street.
Wow, yeah, yeah.
So Bill enjoys the slower paceof Vero Beach.
Shawna (16:01):
Yeah, I bet.
Goodness, gracious, yeah, andhe's probably like give me a
challenge people.
Ray (16:07):
They've all been here since day one, really.
That is cool, that's awesome.
Retention of your team is avery big deal.
Shawna (16:19):
I was just thinking that too.
That says something about youand the culture you're building
to keep a team for two yearsmean yeah, and it's your biggest
investment, as it is absolutely, absolutely.
Ray (16:29):
Turnover kills you.
Brian (16:30):
Yeah, and if you're just good to people, they want to
hang out, you know, yeah,exactly that's awesome, and I
love that you mentioned, too,like one of the things that you
want to help with the communitytoo is how to drink responsibly,
too.
Ray (16:45):
That's an important thing, so I love you sharing that we
don't sell shots when somebodycomes in and wants a shot.
No, let me show you what a neatpour of whiskey is and how to
properly drink it.
We don't do $2 shots.
We don't do drink fast typethings.
It's not our vibe at all.
Shawna (17:05):
It's really respecting your customers more than just
the bottom line.
Ray (17:10):
That's what it looks like to me Absolutely yeah.
Shawna (17:13):
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Ray (17:14):
You got to sleep good when you go home at night.
That's so true.
Brian (17:18):
So, as we get ready to wrap up this episode, ray, what
would you say?
I know you've been doing it fora couple of years, but you've
been running a business for overa decade, so what would you say
?
You've learned the most aboutyourself since starting, like
launching your own business.
And now to where you are today.
Ray (17:34):
It's different doing it at 45 than it was doing it at 25.
You're smarter, but you'reolder too, yeah.
Brian (17:41):
That's, that's really good.
It's a trade-off, isn't it?
It is.
Ray (17:45):
Trade-off like energy for wisdom sometimes, yeah
absolutely Absolutely, and youknow we were doing 18-hour days
for months and months and months.
That'll wear on you.
I could do that in my sleep inmy 20s and still go have a drink
somewhere afterwards.
Now it's a lot different.
Brian (18:02):
It changes, doesn't it?
Yeah, I know I'm 46 now and I'mlike, wow, you start deciding
like what do I really want to doand what's really important?
Ray (18:10):
Yes.
Shawna (18:11):
And what is the one?
Brian (18:12):
key thing for you, as running a business like that
helps you stay grounded.
Ray (18:16):
Two things, one being do what you say you're going to do.
That is going to be a reallybig deal locally because, uh,
vera beach and indiana county ingeneral are very much a word of
mouth town.
This is the world's largestmayberry.
It really is, it really is.
So do what you say you're goingto do, because everybody's
(18:38):
going to hear about it when youdon't.
And two, this is really hard todo in the very beginning because
it's chaos time for a business.
When you're just trying to, youknow you're plugging the dam,
you're putting your holes ineverywhere or your fingers in
the holes everywhere.
But you need to be to a pointwhere you can drive your
business instead of ride yourbusiness.
(18:59):
When you're riding yourbusiness and your business is
steering you, you're at the whimof what everything's you know,
wherever you fly.
At that time you need to stop.
Do the important things what doI need to happen this year?
What do I need to happen thisquarter?
What do I need to happen thismonth?
What do I need to happen thisweek?
(19:20):
And know that you're going tofail at a lot of those things.
But you need to readjust, youknow, change your plan.
Okay, now I can't do that, soI'm going to do this and this,
so you got to have a plan, andthat's.
I always have a plan in mybrain.
My brain is always full.
I'm always thinking that, but Ihave to write it down.
(19:41):
I know it, but everybody elsearound me doesn't know it.
When everybody around me seesthat I know it and sees we have
a direction we're heading, thatmakes them more comfortable,
when they're more comfortable,they're more comfortable in
everything that they do, whichmakes them better.
Now, I say this, but I fail atit all the time, but I'm trying
(20:03):
to be better at it constantly.
Brian (20:05):
And that's key.
That's key, right?
I mean, you're owning where youfall short and you're trying to
become better at that.
And I like that idea because itcomes down to communication
with your team as well.
If they don't understand, theydon't have a roadmap or what
your plans are, then they're atsome point going to feel like
they won't trust you, and trusttakes you a long way it does Now
(20:26):
.
Ray (20:26):
You're married, so you understand this.
She's had arguments with youthat you weren't even aware of
before.
And then you say to her Honey,why don't you tell me the rest
of this conversation that we'vehad and tell me why you feel the
way?
Brian (20:46):
you do.
Ray (20:49):
We do that too, but we do that as men and as business
owners, with plans in our head.
So we have all of these thingsgoing on that we're not
communicating with anybody else,and it looks like craziness
until we write it down andeverybody sees it.
Shawna (21:00):
Wow, that is such a good point All right?
Ray (21:03):
well, that wraps up episode All right, so this wraps up
episode one.
Brian (21:08):
And next episode, we'll be sitting down with Ray to talk
a little bit more about behindthe scenes.
Shawna (21:13):
Catch you next time, neighbor.
All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
I'm Brian and.
Shawna (00:04):
I'm Shawna.
Brian (00:05):
And today we are sitting at the Indian River Distillery
with Ray Ray.
I'm sorry, what was your lastname?
Ray Hooker, ray Hooker, rayHooker, we're so excited to be
able to sit down and learn moreabout your story and how the
Indian River Distillery came tobe.
But before we get started,would you mind just kind of
introduce yourself a little bitand tell everybody a little bit
about yourself?
Ray (00:26):
Well, my name is Ray Hooker .
I am from Indian River County,my dad's from Indian River
County and my grandfather isactually born and raised in
Indian River County too.
I've been in the community formy whole life.
I've been a business ownerlocally for 20 years now.
I've been a Rotarian locallyfor 20 years now.
I've been a Rotarian locallyfor 20 years, so involved in, uh
(00:48):
you know, service work and uh,enjoy our little town.
Brian (00:53):
That is awesome, and you gave us some uh, some whiskey to
be able to sit down here andenjoy as well.
What kind is this?
Ray (00:59):
This is a, a blend of our first batch of bourbon we
created and a 45% wheat that wehand selected out of Indiana.
So in order to make ours lastlonger it's not quite ready yet
we blend it with other whiskeysthat we brought in, and this is
(01:19):
a Ray Lynn's reserve, and RayLynn isn't me.
Ray Lynn is Ray Lynn, one ofthe notorious Ashley gang, which
I'm sure we'll get into alittle bit later.
Shawna (01:30):
We must get into that, because we want to talk about
the scavenger hunt.
Oh, yeah, yeah, we saw that.
Brian (01:35):
We saw that on your uh, on your Instagram.
We'd love to hear you knowabout your story behind, where
you know how you started theIndian river distillery.
But before we go there, whatwere you doing before this Cause
?
I'm sure you weren't doing this, since you're like a little
ladder.
Ray (01:49):
No, no, not at all.
It was 14 years before this, soI think 2006,.
Uh, we started a lawn,landscape and pest control
company.
And when I say started, webought a trailer and mower and
put it on a credit card.
And pest control company.
And when I say started, webought a trailer and mower and
put it on a credit card and Iwent out and started beating on
doors and and finding customers.
(02:11):
We did that for 14 years.
We had as many as 19 employeesand got kind of burnt out doing
that.
So we switched over to a hobby.
Uh, we, we sold the lawn andlandscape and pest control
company and used that to fundthe starting of Indian River
Distillery.
Brian (02:28):
How did the idea come to you to actually launch this
business?
Ray (02:33):
I'm going to say a lot of allegedly when I talk about this
, or possibly, possibly.
Okay, possibly there were somestills that were being made,
possibly there were some stillsthat were being made and
possibly, allegedly, we mighthave experimented around with
that a few friends and myselfand there was nothing really
(02:53):
like this around and we thoughtit would be a great idea to do
and it would be fun and I couldbe a little bit creative,
Although I don't seem like acreative artistic type person.
Shawna (03:08):
This is kind of my way of doing that.
Are you happy to be workinginside more so, as opposed to
outside, when you werelandscaping and everything?
Ray (03:14):
Yes, and the original plans for this were my production
area was going to be airconditioned, and when costs
started doubling and doubling,that went out the window pretty
quick.
So it's pretty hot back theretoo.
It's not right out in the sunand, yes, this is much easier on
my body than landscaping.
Brian (03:33):
Yeah, that's good.
Well, I have to say, ray, likethere's a business gentleman
that I'm friends with and he'sin Tampa area and we used to
always meet on zoom meetings andI got to meet him in person and
he saw me.
He's like you look so muchtaller on your zoom meetings.
I'm like dude, like that'sbecause I raised my chair up to
(03:54):
kind of, you know, be a littlebit more like, you know,
intimidating.
Don't call me out.
But when I pulled up and ray,like he has this jacked up old,
that's an old f-250 out there,right, yeah, and I'm either.
Either he has a ladder to getup in there.
He's a tall guy and you're abig guy.
So I was like wow.
I was like, okay, well, sean, ifyou're listening, I I haven't
challenged you to stand next toRay, but uh, but no, it's, it's
(04:17):
a really cool to be able to meetyou in person and and get to
get Getting into the spirits andcrafting.
Ray (04:28):
No, no, I didn't, not until I started playing with it, and
I think that was 2014 or 2013 wefirst started messing around
with it.
Fermentation always kind ofinterested me.
I'm not a very big beer person,I'm not really big on wine, but
I do drink spirits.
(04:49):
I like spirits.
My favorite spirit was singlemalt, but now that I've
experienced a little bit more, Ikind of like all of them.
There's nothing really I don'tlike.
Brian (05:01):
You're going to educate me a lot, probably during this
too, so explain the differenceof spirits.
So what is spirits, consideredspecifically?
Ray (05:09):
Spirits would be a distilled alcohol.
Okay, so the distillationprocess is using heat and
capturing the alcohol vapor asit comes off and then
recondensing that vapor.
So we know that alcoholvaporizes at a temperature lower
than water does.
So that's how we dodistillation.
(05:30):
So think of, if you're boilinga pot of spaghetti and you put
the lid on it, the condensationwhen you pick up the lid and it
runs off.
That's a very simplifiedversion of what distillation is.
We capture all of that and tryto make sure, through
temperature control, what wecapture is alcohol, not water.
Through temperature control,what we capture is alcohol, not
water.
So you name the spirit by itsbase material.
(05:53):
For one Rum would come fromsugar cane and whiskey would
come from grain.
Now, single malt whiskey is amalted barley whiskey that's
made from one distillery in oneseason.
Bourbon is a whiskey that'smade from at least 51% corn.
The rest has to be another typeof grain.
(06:15):
It needs to be made in the USand it has to be put into a
brand-new charred oak barrel.
So think of whiskey as cola.
Like a generic A generic termfor things that are like this,
and then all of the other namesare the different types of it.
Shawna (06:35):
So rye is a type of whiskey.
Ray (06:37):
Rye is a type of whiskey.
Shawna (06:38):
Bourbon is a type of whiskey, but it's only made in
America, right, correct?
Ray (06:41):
Yep.
Shawna (06:42):
What's another type of whiskey?
Ray (06:44):
Irish whiskey Irish, yeah.
Scotch whiskey Okay.
Malt whiskey.
All of those are differenttypes.
Some of those are regionaldesignations of where the
whiskey would come from, butothers are the type of whiskey
that they are.
Shawna (07:03):
That is so interesting.
I feel like I want a notebookthat I can take notes, because
first of all I didn't knowthat's how distilling even works
, so that was fascinating.
Brian (07:12):
Well, it's actually interesting too, Cause there was
a time I went through where Icouldn't like we used, I used to
enjoy having a glass of wine,but then it would cause me to
have migraines.
So I was like, I don't know,let me try a bourbon.
And uh, I can now luckily havewine again.
But it took, like I don't knowwhat, six years or something
like that probably.
Shawna (07:29):
Yeah, probably, so I could actually even do that.
Brian (07:31):
Try brandy.
Shawna (07:32):
Once he found out how much he liked bourbon.
Then we started perfecting ourold-fashioned recipe.
Brian (07:37):
Now perfecting doesn't mean perfecting, like compared
here, We've had yourold-fashioned stuff here and
it's not.
Ray (07:43):
I'll tell you how to make it.
Okay, all right, our cocktails.
They're not really fancy, theyare simple cocktails executed
properly.
Yeah.
Shawna (07:59):
With high quality, right With high quality ingredients.
Ray (08:01):
Well, that's properly.
So if you don't overcomplicateit, if you just do it properly,
you don't have to put the flareon it, you don't have to put
gold sparkles on the side orlight it on fire or any of those
things.
As a just a kind of an aside,we do a contract bottling for
that.
That's one of the things ourlicense allows us to do.
(08:23):
So people have brands, but theydon't have a distillery, so
they want to have a rum brand.
Brands, but they don't have adistillery, so they want to have
a rum brand.
So we have a guy, mike Streeter, from Down Island Spirits.
He lives down the road and webottle his rum brand for him.
(08:45):
Mike does really really nicerums, really unique rums.
He goes and sources this reallycool barrel from this place or
this really cool barrel fromthat place and uh, one of the
barrels we had come in, uh, afew weeks back, uh, the
distillery was new Yarmouth, outof Jamaica, and I wasn't really
familiar with it.
Um and uh, I tasted the rum andit was really really nice.
(09:06):
And uh, I was telling Michael,our bartender, who's a rum nerd,
this is an 18-year-old from NewYarmouth and he says, well,
that's Ray and Nephew and I saidcool.
And he goes no, it's an18-year-old Ray and Nephew,
that's the original rum from theMai Tai from the 1940s.
(09:27):
That was long lost.
They don't have this rumanymore.
They don't sell it on themarket.
So every Mai Tai that's beenmade since the 60s has been made
with the wrong rum.
Shawna (09:40):
Can we?
Ray (09:40):
make a Mai Tai Absolutely Wow.
And we made a basic Mai Tai outof the proper rum.
Mike made the almond syrup togo in it.
We squeezed the fruit.
Mai Tai is my new favoritecocktail.
It's so good.
Shawna (09:56):
I believe it.
I believe it because when Icame for our first visit, which
I'll tell you about in a littlebit, I had a daiquiri, which
I've never normally ordereddaiquiri.
But when I saw it on the menuand I saw the description, I
thought that sounds delicious.
So I tried it and it wasdelicious.
So fresh, so, like you'resaying, simple, but you can
(10:19):
taste the quality.
Yeah, it's just.
You know, there's nothing worsethan a cocktail with, like, a
bottled sour mix or a bottledwine juice.
Ray (10:27):
You can tell, absolutely Now is this like a familyled
sour mix or a bottled wine juice?
You can tell, absolutely.
Brian (10:31):
Now is this like a family-owned business too, Yep
myself, Mandy and Chandler.
Ray (10:35):
Wow, oh, wow.
Shawna (10:36):
How old is your son?
Ray (10:38):
16.
Oh, good Wow.
Shawna (10:40):
He's a little business, tycoon, that's awesome.
Brian (10:43):
He might not be little.
I mean, is he as tall?
Ray (10:46):
as you, he's 6, two.
Yeah, he's a big little kid.
Brian (10:51):
He's a big little kid.
I like that.
What have you loved most aboutrunning a family?
Like doing this together?
Ray (10:58):
That's, that's hard to ask in the first couple of years of
a new business, because the whenyou're running a business that
way you're able to pull away andyou can take time.
And right now I can't pull away.
You know, as much as I'd liketo.
I can more now than I couldlast year and it will get better
progressively better over thenext few years.
(11:18):
I like having creative controlover things.
That kind of makes me soundlike I'm a control freak, but no
, I can do quality controlreally well on all aspects well,
and you said you're two yearsin right now.
Brian (11:32):
Is that correct?
So I mean, it is you'rebirthing this baby right now, so
it needs your eyes and yourhands on it to kind of make sure
it's going the direction youwant it to go need your
influence absolutely talkingabout influence, what is the
experience you're hoping to givethe community of Vero here at
(11:53):
the Indian River Distillery?
Ray (11:55):
That's a good question.
I'd like to educate them onproper spirits, responsible
alcohol use and our history andcommunity.
I love that, if you notice, youknow we were talking a little
bit before we got started aboutthe historic aspect of all of
our brands.
Yes, because I want to use thatas an education tool to people
(12:19):
for our area.
A lot of people don't knowthese stories and I get
frustrated.
I've dealt with people movinghere for years and years with
our previous business and justbeing out in the community.
People look at Florida asDisneyland, as Miami as
Jacksonville.
They have no idea the historyor the culture that is Florida.
(12:44):
They see some of the things ourstate does in national media
they say, wow, florida's alittle not right.
Yeah, we kind of are, andthere's a reason for that.
There's a reason for that.
We definitely have a rebelliousstreak and we're proud of it.
Yes, I love that.
Brian (13:04):
Have you ever read that book?
A Land?
Shawna (13:07):
Remembered.
I'm so thankful that I foundthat book early in our residency
in Florida because it did giveme a whole different view of
what Florida is, who the peopleare, where they've come from,
what they had to conquer to evenget to this place in history.
I mean, if anyone hasn't readthat book and you want to know
(13:29):
about Florida, it's eye-openingand terrifying.
Ray (13:32):
I remember Patrick W Smith right.
Shawna (13:34):
Yep, that's right Excellent book.
Brian (13:37):
Yeah, it changes your whole outlook on Florida.
Ray (13:39):
It does.
I used to carry those books inmy truck and when new customers
would come in from out of state,I would say this is required
reading to be a customer of ours.
Shawna (13:47):
That is so smart that's good.
I think about differentpassages in that book.
Every time I walk through oldgrowth forests, when I walk
through the places that haven'tbeen tamed, I think the whole
state was like this at one point.
Brian (14:02):
You're talking about, like having the customers read
that, which I think is a greatidea.
Uh, how about your employeeslike your?
Ray (14:08):
team.
Oh, we've all yeah, we've allread that we talk about things
like that you know we stopped bybefore.
Brian (14:13):
We like to stop in, check out some places before we.
You know well, we were going toreach out to you, but you
reached out to us.
We're like, yes, this isawesome, this is perfect, can't
wait to have on the podcast.
And here we are.
But we came and the bartender Idon't remember who it was
working that evening.
Shawna (14:27):
I wish I knew his name.
Brian (14:28):
He was awesome Older guy, Bill Bill Yep.
Bill Yep, that's exactly who itwas.
He was amazing, so you couldtell they really enjoy what they
do.
Ray (14:47):
And that really comes through a Bill, michael and
Kelsey.
Kelsey is my niece, so she'snot going anywhere unless I
disappear in a hole somewhere.
We're glad to have Kelsey.
I love Kelsey to death.
Kelsey is the young one of thegroup, so I like to harass her.
Then we have Michael.
Michael is 30, I believe, butmost of his career as a
bartender was at places likeDisney or the Broadmoor in
(15:08):
Colorado, so he has really goodcocktail experience and he has a
genuine creative side withdoing all this.
And that's kind of what you'vegot to have here.
Sure, because we aren't a bar,we're a tasting room for a
distillery.
So we can't buy vermouth, wecan't buy Campari, we can't buy
(15:28):
all of these different things.
We have to serve what weproduce.
So that makes you need to bereally creative and you can't
lean on some of the extras.
We can't buy Curacao or orangeliqueur, we have to make it.
And then we have Bill, who youguys met, who I think he's 35
(15:52):
years in bartending, all of iton Bourbon Street.
Wow, yeah, yeah.
So Bill enjoys the slower paceof Vero Beach.
Shawna (16:01):
Yeah, I bet.
Goodness, gracious, yeah, andhe's probably like give me a
challenge people.
Ray (16:07):
They've all been here since day one, really.
That is cool, that's awesome.
Retention of your team is avery big deal.
Shawna (16:19):
I was just thinking that too.
That says something about youand the culture you're building
to keep a team for two yearsmean yeah, and it's your biggest
investment, as it is absolutely, absolutely.
Ray (16:29):
Turnover kills you.
Brian (16:30):
Yeah, and if you're just good to people, they want to
hang out, you know, yeah,exactly that's awesome, and I
love that you mentioned, too,like one of the things that you
want to help with the communitytoo is how to drink responsibly,
too.
Ray (16:45):
That's an important thing, so I love you sharing that we
don't sell shots when somebodycomes in and wants a shot.
No, let me show you what a neatpour of whiskey is and how to
properly drink it.
We don't do $2 shots.
We don't do drink fast typethings.
It's not our vibe at all.
Shawna (17:05):
It's really respecting your customers more than just
the bottom line.
Ray (17:10):
That's what it looks like to me Absolutely yeah.
Shawna (17:13):
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Ray (17:14):
You got to sleep good when you go home at night.
That's so true.
Brian (17:18):
So, as we get ready to wrap up this episode, ray, what
would you say?
I know you've been doing it fora couple of years, but you've
been running a business for overa decade, so what would you say
?
You've learned the most aboutyourself since starting, like
launching your own business.
And now to where you are today.
Ray (17:34):
It's different doing it at 45 than it was doing it at 25.
You're smarter, but you'reolder too, yeah.
Brian (17:41):
That's, that's really good.
It's a trade-off, isn't it?
It is.
Ray (17:45):
Trade-off like energy for wisdom sometimes, yeah
absolutely Absolutely, and youknow we were doing 18-hour days
for months and months and months.
That'll wear on you.
I could do that in my sleep inmy 20s and still go have a drink
somewhere afterwards.
Now it's a lot different.
Brian (18:02):
It changes, doesn't it?
Yeah, I know I'm 46 now and I'mlike, wow, you start deciding
like what do I really want to doand what's really important?
Ray (18:10):
Yes.
Shawna (18:11):
And what is the one?
Brian (18:12):
key thing for you, as running a business like that
helps you stay grounded.
Ray (18:16):
Two things, one being do what you say you're going to do.
That is going to be a reallybig deal locally because, uh,
vera beach and indiana county ingeneral are very much a word of
mouth town.
This is the world's largestmayberry.
It really is, it really is.
So do what you say you're goingto do, because everybody's
(18:38):
going to hear about it when youdon't.
And two, this is really hard todo in the very beginning because
it's chaos time for a business.
When you're just trying to, youknow you're plugging the dam,
you're putting your holes ineverywhere or your fingers in
the holes everywhere.
But you need to be to a pointwhere you can drive your
business instead of ride yourbusiness.
(18:59):
When you're riding yourbusiness and your business is
steering you, you're at the whimof what everything's you know,
wherever you fly.
At that time you need to stop.
Do the important things what doI need to happen this year?
What do I need to happen thisquarter?
What do I need to happen thismonth?
What do I need to happen thisweek?
(19:20):
And know that you're going tofail at a lot of those things.
But you need to readjust, youknow, change your plan.
Okay, now I can't do that, soI'm going to do this and this,
so you got to have a plan, andthat's.
I always have a plan in mybrain.
My brain is always full.
I'm always thinking that, but Ihave to write it down.
(19:41):
I know it, but everybody elsearound me doesn't know it.
When everybody around me seesthat I know it and sees we have
a direction we're heading, thatmakes them more comfortable,
when they're more comfortable,they're more comfortable in
everything that they do, whichmakes them better.
Now, I say this, but I fail atit all the time, but I'm trying
(20:03):
to be better at it constantly.
Brian (20:05):
And that's key.
That's key, right?
I mean, you're owning where youfall short and you're trying to
become better at that.
And I like that idea because itcomes down to communication
with your team as well.
If they don't understand, theydon't have a roadmap or what
your plans are, then they're atsome point going to feel like
they won't trust you, and trusttakes you a long way it does Now
(20:26):
.
Ray (20:26):
You're married, so you understand this.
She's had arguments with youthat you weren't even aware of
before.
And then you say to her Honey,why don't you tell me the rest
of this conversation that we'vehad and tell me why you feel the
way?
Brian (20:46):
you do.
Ray (20:49):
We do that too, but we do that as men and as business
owners, with plans in our head.
So we have all of these thingsgoing on that we're not
communicating with anybody else,and it looks like craziness
until we write it down andeverybody sees it.
Shawna (21:00):
Wow, that is such a good point All right?
Ray (21:03):
well, that wraps up episode All right, so this wraps up
episode one.
Brian (21:08):
And next episode, we'll be sitting down with Ray to talk
a little bit more about behindthe scenes.
Shawna (21:13):
Catch you next time, neighbor.
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