There are several companies around the world that build and install "professional" stills. But moonshine stills were never "bought and installed" from a manufacturer. Backwoods moonshiners had to build their operations out of materials they could make, buy, borrow or steal. The pots, tubs, coils and heaters were pulled out of cars, kitchens and bathrooms and crudely put together with rustic ingenuity. And that's how it happened at the Firefly Distillery.

It's true. Jim and Scott did not have a fat corporate-backed budget to build their stills. Even if they did, they didn't want to buy something they could design and build themselves. So they started with a 55 gallon stainless steel tank on a propane burner. They got it fired up and began distilling from grapes, corn, sugar and all kinds of local and regional ingredients. They ran batches until they worked out the kinks and landed on some recipes they both really liked. Those recipes are what you taste in Firefly spirits today. That first homemade still is on display in the Firefly Tasting Room and the design has been updated and altered into what is in place now - two 300 gallon homemade pot stills that run nearly every day.