THE
Dish
Bottoms Up
Fish Hawk Spirits brings handcrafted, artisanal spirits to the table. › By Cealia Athanason
› Matthew Bagdanovich
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hen Matthew Bagdanovich moved back to the United States from Mexico, where he had spent about eight years making friends and spirits in a few distilleries, he was looking for another liquor industry opportunity. In 2011, he opened Fish Hawk Spirits in Ocala with two partners, and after receiving licensure, they spent the next few years working on placement within commercial retailers. “In 2015, we realized we needed more business savvy and experience in marketing to get the bottles into the hands of consumers,” Matthew says. That’s where David Molyneaux comes in. He was making his own whiskey and had spoken to Matthew about it. “I realized it’s really a long, difficult process. Beer and wine are easy,” David says, deciding, ultimately, it
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would make more sense for him and Matthew to work together instead of as competitors. “We were excited when he took on the duty of CEO at Fish Hawk,” Matthew says. David handles the marketing side of the business, and due to the legalities of being a craft liquor distillery, it’s been a challenge to say the least. Coupled with that, the time it takes for them to turn out bottles of spirits is much longer than at, say, Jim Beam. Fish Hawk produces 50,000 bottles a year, an amount that’s pumped out almost daily for the big brands. “We really are craft. It takes us seven days to make whiskey,” Matthew says. “And that’s before maturation.”
The production process is a long and complicated one. After obtaining and preparing raw materials, those ingredients go through fermentation, distillation, finishing and maturation before marketing. The distillery uses 850-gallon fermenters, and the finishing process includes treating spirits with oak chips or different fruits before running it all through an industry-specific filter. “It’s a lot of work to actually make the alcohol,” Matthew says. “Our operation is the real deal.” David’s been hard at work, though, because now Fish Hawk products are sold in about 150 liquor stores, bars and restaurants across the state, including ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.
LEARN MORE › Fish Hawk Spirits › (352) 445-1292 › fishhawkspirits.com
Photos courtesy of Fish Hawk Spirits
We really are craft. It takes us seven days to make whiskey, and that’s before maturation.
Fish Hawk manufactures four different brands of spirits. For David’s Sui Generis (meaning “one of a kind”) brand of whiskey, they use corn grown on their own land to make it. Fish Hawk’s Island Grove vodka, named so for the blueberries that come from Island Grove Wine Company, is a fruitbased liquor distilled from citrus fruits and berries. “We won’t use artificial flavors; we won’t use artificial colors,” Matthew says. “It takes 50 to 60 pounds of blueberries to make a bottle.” Twisted Sun Rum and Fish Hawk Specialties are the last two brands. One of the specialties, the Marion 106 Black, is a brandy that uses more than 60 tangerines for each bottle. And the other one, the Absinthe Rubra, usually impresses with its unique hibiscus flower finish. Taste them for yourself—the Ocala, Gainesville and Tampa locations all host tours, events and tastings.