our Roots

At Woody Creek Distillers, our spirits are shaped by the land that surrounds us—fertile valleys, snowmelt-fed rivers, and high-altitude fields near our home in Basalt, Colorado. Nestled in the Roaring Fork Valley just outside of Aspen, Basalt sits at 6,600 feet above sea level, where the Rocky Mountains meet rich agricultural land. It’s a place where rugged beauty and farming heritage coexist—and it’s the soul of everything we make.

Nearly all our ingredients are grown in Colorado, within 250 miles of the distillery, and everything we produce is mashed, distilled, and bottled right here in the state.

As a women-owned distillery, we bring bold perspective and hands-on dedication to every step—from grain to glass—crafting spirits that could only come from this place.

our mission is simple

When we founded Woody Creek Distillers, our mission was simple: To pour everything we are into everything we make. We set out to make nothing but the finest craft spirits, each with a unique taste and character that was true to the origins of that spirit. It’s a standard we hold ourselves to every day. We never use neutral grain spirits or blend with base spirits from other distillers. We grow and harvest many of our own ingredients, like the Rio Grande potatoes for our premium vodka. We only source our grains from trusted Colorado farms, like the rye in our 100% rye mash whiskey. For the finishing touch, we distill every spirit we make in our own custom CARL stills – a shining copper example of engineering and art that turns the Earth’s freshest ingredients into the world’s most treasured spirits. This is without a doubt the perfect place to raise a drink.

Our story

If you name a distillery after Woody Creek, Colorado, you better do it right — your spirits better be true to everything that makes this place so magical. The care and craftsmanship. The rugged independence. The creative spirit of the land and the locals.

That’s what our founders did. Because that’s who they are. Pat Scanlan and Mark Kleckner were engineers with an interest in agriculture. They designed. Our distillation process to deliver the finest quality, from the ground up. Mary Scanlan was the creative visionary. She made sure our brand would be built on passion and soul, and our growth built on strong relationships and integrity.

Today, Woody Creek is proudly women-owned, and under Mary’s leadership, we produce award-winning whiskeys, vodkas and gins.

OUR PILLARS

QUALITY: Crafted with Precision. No Shortcuts. We distill on custom CARL stills from Germany and produce everything in small batches. Every run is monitored start to finish by our in-house team. Over 20 national and international medals back it up.

AUTHENTICITY: Family-Owned. Women-Led. Colorado Through and Through. We live where we distill. Everything is milled, distilled, aged, and bottled onsite in Basalt. No sourcing. No outsourcing. Built on real relationships—from local farmers to neighbors like Bill (yes, that Bill).

LOCALLY SOURCED: Grown Here. Made Here.Our grains and potatoes are grown within 250 miles of the distillery. Pure Rocky Mountain water fuels every batch. Spent grain goes back to local farms as livestock feed

Rooted in an extraordinary place—and proud of it.

Mary Scanlan is the CEO of Woody Creek Distillers. She lives in Woody Creek, Colorado with her (mostly) fabulous husband, two (usually) wonderful children, twenty two dogs, and two cats. She grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and studied photography, English literature, and art history at Bennington College, Drake University, and Columbia College Chicago. Mary currently sits on the boards of The Loomis Chaffee School, Bennington College, and the Aspen Education Foundation. Her favorite color is purple. She loves peanut butter, sushi, chocolate bars with almonds in them (she’s a bit particular about this), blueberries… basically anything that is delicious. She loves to bake with her three sourdough starters: Doughlene, Poppy, and Bubbles. Mary also has too many shoes. Currently she is trying to decide what her next tattoo will be.

William H. Macy is Spokesdude and Partner at Woody Creek Distillers, which sets the gold standard for Colorado spirits. William is the beloved Oscar Award-nominated and two-time Emmy Award-winning American actor, writer and director, best known for Shameless and Fargo. He travels the U.S. with his ukulele in hand to share his love of Woody Creek Distillers’ award-winning whiskeys, vodka and gin. In William’s own words, “In all sincerity, I think Woody Creek makes the finest spirits in America. We don’t do everything, but what we do, we do as well as the best.”

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Joe spent his younger years playing baseball, football and working summers with the family electrical company.

He earned a B.S. in Accounting from Clarke University where he was also a captain on the baseball team.

Sticking true to his Chicago roots, Joe’s first job out of college was a union accountant for the Central States Pension and Health Funds. After 6 years of progressing through the Finance Department he accepted an opportunity as a Senior Accounting Manager at Provi, an emerging unicorn in the Tech and Alcohol Beverage industry.

Joe joined Woody Creek Distillers in 2023 and is currently the Finance and Facility Operations Manager. He moved out to beautiful Carbondale Colorado in 2024 with his wife Nichole and three dogs Cosmo, Hank and Ivy.

Joe is a constant competitor and enjoys the gym, golf, sailing and 16” softball. His favorite drink is a Woody Creek Wheated Bourbon on the rocks.

A third generation Barman & Restaurateur, his Grandfather, Mother and Father have been pub owners and bartenders in New Jersey since the 1930’s. Over the course of his 33-year career, Sean has managed restaurants, bars and cocktail programs in New Jersey, Texas and Colorado and consulted on several national programs. In 2011, he realized a lifelong dream and opened Williams & Graham in Denver, CO. And in 2015 Williams & Graham was listed as one of the“World’s Top 50 Bars” By Drinks International magazine. National media such as Food & Wine magazine, Imbibe magazine, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Playboy, USA Today, and Esquire have recently recognized his beverage programs. At the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2014, Sean was honored as the American Bartender of the Year.