Woody Creek Distillers Taps Stephen Julander to Head Up Production

Woody Creek Distillers, the Colorado craft distillery that specializes in rye distilled from local grains and counts award-winning actor and director William H. Macy among its partners, has announced that industry veteran Stephen Julander has been named senior operations manager, effective immediately. As part of his new role, Julander will run the distillery’s day-to-day operations, lead the distilling team, and manage the supply chain—replacing head distiller Blaine Hudson who has moved on from the brand.

For Julander, who brings with him 13 years of distilling experience, this is something of a whiskey homecoming. His first production job came in 2012 at Denver-based Laws Whiskey House, located just a few hours away from Woody Creek’s home base in the town of Basalt. After a four-year tenure at Laws that saw him reach the rank of senior production distiller, Julander then founded Heartwood Spirits Solutions, his spirits consultancy that specializes in helping new distilleries get off the ground. In that role, Julander briefly served as the inaugural master distiller for both Wyoming-based Brush Creek Distillery and California-based Sabbatical Distillery—playing a key role in establishing the production methods for both.

More recently, Julander served as master distiller for the New Mexico-based single malt specialist Santa Fe Spirits. While at Santa Fe, he worked on its American single malt, desert botanical-influenced gin, apple brandy, and other spirits. Arguably his most interesting project was Colkegan Unsmoked, a riff on the brand’s signature Colkegan single malt which was made without the typical mesquite-smoked malted barley. It scored 90 points with our tasting panel.

Woody Creek hasn’t yet disclosed what projects Julander is currently working on, or when his first whiskeys will be released. But, considering his extensive history working with distillers specialized in using local ingredients, he seems like a good fit for the distillery. "We are delighted to have Stephen join the team,” said Woody Creek Distillers co-founder and CEO Mary Scanlan. "As we continue to grow as a business and increase yields, we’re confident that his experience and leadership will prove to be invaluable assets.”