Inspired by the saltwater marshes and white sand beaches of the Central Gulf Coast, Eli Underhill founded Circle Hook Distilling in 2018. Eli’s journey into distilling began as a desire to express his love for the sea and to create something truly special for the Gulf Coast community. What started as a dream has now become a thriving, award-winning distillery dedicated to producing exceptional spirits rooted in tradition and craftsmanship
I first witnessed Eli’s love for concocting liquors around 2007 when we lived in San Francisco. Our friends Nick and Patrycja had us over for dinner, and he tried Patrycja’s old family recipe pigwowa, a Polish liquor made from quince. A city-wide search for quince ensued followed by a pigwowa kitchen takeover at the Bully’s.
Fast forward a few years, we moved to the Gulf Coast, and Eli began robbing my mother’s citrus trees to make limoncello and orangicello. Neither she nor I complained about the theft once we tasted the product. Then the reading began. He consumed anything he could find about distilling, regaling me with scintillating explanations of brix, yeast, nutrients, racking, aerobic and anaerobic fermentation, pH levels, ABV, maturation, and many others that have embedded themselves into my psyche.
He began talking about starting a distillery. My mother took me aside, concerned he was really going through with this crazy idea. I told her with full confidence that the distillery was just a phase, that he would move on to another interest before long.
And now we have a 300 gallon copper pot still with all the other necessary accoutrements (more than I ever would have imagined), as well as pallets of rum-filled barrels awaiting bottling. Who am I to stand between a man and his dream?
After owning and operating a commercial fishing business in Sitka Alaska for the last twenty years, I needed a change. Something not as physically demanding and not requiring such long separations from my family. So, I did some soul searching.
What transpired is Circle Hook Distilling. What better way to express my love of being productive and building a business from the ground up than the craft distilling world?
It integrates so many of my passions–cooking and crowd pleasing, a family run business, and bringing something new to the Gulf Coast. It was a true calling.
Over the next few years, the discussions turned into reality with support from my loved ones. First began the research. I read every book and article, blog and shred of information available. Lots of ideas on how this new business would play out arose, and as I bounced the different ideas off of my close circle a plan began to emerge.
Rum, truly the American spirit since colonial times. Being in sugar cane country, rum was a natural choice for our launch. Not a mass-produced version, but an expression of the spirit that would bring pride to our family and our community. More research on producing the best rum was needed. Funny thing—SO many opinions on what the best is! Coupling my research with my own ideas about what WE loved in a spirit, we developed a step-by-step plan. When the time came to roll up our sleeves and get to work, we did just that. No time like the present to make it happen. Now we have an actual product, and I couldn’t be happier enjoying every aspect of our new creation.
Crafting Coastal Spirits with passion. Get a taste of the
Gulf Coast in every sip.
