GLUCKSTADT – Richard Patrick and Austin Evans, two Blues lovin’ business savvy Mississippians and founders of Cathead Distillery, recently celebrated three years of making the first and only legal liquor produced in the state.
The two college pals met while attending the University of Alabama, but their shared love of Mississippi heritage and well-crafted liquor brought them to Madison County in 2010 where they began showcasing their Blues-inspired vodka.
“We saw an opportunity to make history in the state of Mississippi,” said Patrick. “Cathead Distillery is the first and, still today, only legal distillery in the state.”
Quietly nestled next to the hustle and bustle of the industrial park in Gluckstadt, the location of the small distillery of only 12 employees often goes unnoticed. However, the same cannot be said by merchants from across the southeast eager to welcome a piece of Mississippi into their storefronts.
The brand, while still minding their humble beginnings here in the state, has grown and now their vodka is sold in 12 markets spanning from Indiana to the Florida Panhandle.
“One of the advantages of Gluckstadt is that it’s a great place to do business from a manufacturing angle, but the main reason we chose here is because the state’s ABC, the only distributor of alcohol, is located less than a half-mile from our facility,” Richard Patrick explained.
While their smooth-tasting original flavored vodka may be the most well-known, both Patrick and Evans wanted to highlight some local southern flavor by introducing Honeysuckle flavor into the mix.
Don’t be fooled by the sweet façade, this hard-hitting liquor is 80 proof.
For whiskey and gin lovers, the distillery also produces its own whiskey and gin brand as well.
“We are the first ever honeysuckle vodka and we wanted to do that because it’s just a great-tasting flower here in the south and we wanted something relevant to our upbringing,” Patrick said.
In the fall, Cathead plans to release a new flavored vodka that to date remains a secret.
Pete Clark, proprietor of Madison Cellars, began his business in Madison 25 years ago and while he has carried many products since then, he said that he enjoys the emphasis on local business and music the Cathead brand embraces.
“It’s a local company that’s promoting local events and it’s kind of unique and nice,” he said. “We carry a couple of their products and I like them and customers seem to like them so the fact that it is made close is always helpful.
“I’ve had it several times and what impresses me about them is that they are local and their desire to promote the local music,” Clark said.
Wanting to give back to the community, which inspired their business, Cathead pledges to provide a $1 of every fifth of vodka sold to help support foundations that promote and support live music and the arts.
“That’s a big bottom line for our values as a company, Austin and myself are just really big fans of Mississippi heritage, the Blues had started here and we wanted something we could contribute back to and also promote some of the cool things going on in Mississippi,” Patrick said.
