The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Getting job done in Job
Still Hollow looks to make its mark in spirits world
When Athey and Maggie Lutz decided to build a distillery, they sought uber-local ingredients and production support for their corn whiskey. Water comes from a limestone-filtered mountain spring just 50 yards from the soaring hardwood distillery building, and he grows heirloom corn on his 190-acre farm in Job, West Virginia, which lies about 140 miles and boasts a population of 25.
The spring water was a no-brainer, but finding the corn took a little perseverance. They put out the word they were searching for West Virginia farmers who were growing heirloom varieties. Through the grapevine, they met a longtime farmer whose family had been growing Bloody Butcher corn in West Virginia from the same seed stock for 200 years. The corn is named for its red splotches on pale-yellow kernels, like blood on a butcher’s apron. However, corn kernels also mature as red or yellow.
This particular seed was legendary in the Meadows family. In the 1920s, members used it to make corn whiskey and smuggled it in coal cart deliveries. Today, the Lutzs are making a quality-controlled, legal product.
Bloody Butcher corn is known for its substantial cornmeal, which traditionally is used for corn bread and grits. It imparts a nutty flavor to everything, including the whiskey. For the past two years, Athey had been growing 3 acres of Bloody Butcher in preparation for opening of Still Hollow Spirits, which happened in December.
After the early-maturing corn is dry, Athey and assistant Tyler Waldo use an electric sheller to separate kernels from the cob. They take these five miles around the corner to The Old Mill, a century-old, water-driven grist mill. There, two 3-foot diameter sandstones take less than an hour to turn 350 pounds of kernels into a coarse grind.
Back at the distillery, the corn is added to 250 gallons of water and boiled. Once cool, yeast is added, and the mash bubbles as yeast eat the sugar and produce alcohol. After two weeks, that liquid is drained and placed into a direct-fired copper pot for concentration and distillation. The corn solids are saved to feed the Lutzs’ herd of 16 Belted Galloway cattle.
The entire process takes about 2 ½ weeks and results in about six dozen 750-milliliter bottles of whiskey. Making subtly sweet, complex (and legal) corn whiskey isn’t quite enough for Athey. He’s also experimenting with enhancements to satisfy his creative spirit and open up market opportunities. Perhaps the most obvious is putting whiskey in charred, new white-oak barrels to age it into bourbon. In late July, he bottled whiskey that he aged in barrels that had two previous lives — first to age bourbon, then to age maple syrup. These barrels gave a hint of maple character to the corn whiskey. The third level of experimentation is infusing the whiskey with botanicals — from cranberries or mint to serviceberries — that grow locally. Serviceberries are a relatively unknown berry with a complex citrus and cherry-like flavor.
The first two products are available only at the distillery, while the infusions are just an idea at the moment.
Athey, who has a geology degree from University of Dayton, lived in Cleveland Heights’ Coventry neighborhood and worked in environmental remediation for two years with Arcadis before moving home to Canaan Valley, West Virginia, just 20 minutes from his distillery. His wife and business partner, Maggie, is from Warren, but she lived in Cleveland’s Little Italy after graduating from University of Dayton and before marrying Athey.