Short Creek business distilling area’s polygamous past and promising future with spirits, not words

Colorado City • From rugged ranchers to religious fundamentalists to opportunistic newcomers, Short Creek’s checkered and colorful history over the past century is hard to distill into words.

That’s why cousins Ray and Charles Hammon, along with behind-the-scenes financial advisor and investor Caleb Cawley, are expressing it with spirits. Short Creek Spirits, the craft distillery and tasting room they debuted in May in Colorado City, Arizona, has chosen to convey that history with gin, vodka and rum.

Thus far, the business in the former polygamous enclave once known as Short Creek, which consists of Colorado City and the neighboring Utah town of Hildale, is reaping more raves than raising eyebrows.

Short Creek’s bustling business, local officials say, reflects the fact the area is no longer dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Disgraced FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted in 2011 of assaulting two underage girls he took as polygamous wives, remains in a Texas prison and has lost his stranglehold on the former polygamous stronghold.

Moreover, there are not many staunch FLDS members left.

“A lot of them have gone elsewhere, and some who have stayed have changed their faith,” said Colorado City Mayor Howard Reams, who estimates FLDS members now number less than 5% of the population.

Ray Hammon said the shift in the area’s demographics and attitudes was evident when the Colorado City Town Council voted unanimously earlier this year to approve granting a license for the distillery. In 2016, when he applied for a license for his Edge of the World Brewery, the all-FLDS council at the time was united in opposition.

Then-Mayor Joseph Allred even recited a poem — anonymously written, but often cited — about temperance that starts:

“A bar to heaven, a door to hell,

Whoever named it, named it well;"

Still, Arizona granted the beer license over the town leaders’ objections. As for Allred, he is long gone as mayor, but the poem he recited lives on. Patrons often gather at Ray’s brewery or at the distillery on poetry nights and read the composition aloud in the former mayor’s honor.

Getting in the spirit

Charles Hammon said the success of his cousin’s craft brewery — along with a few beers —inspired them to get into the distillery business. He remembers downing a few hazy IPAs with Ray at Edge of the World three years ago when he suggested they start a distillery.

“When I’ve had a few IPAs, there is nothing I think I can’t do,” Charles said. “Ray had the brewery and we were both thinking this was a great idea.”

That idea did not ferment in their minds very long before the two sprang into action. Alas, they soon found they were out of their depth. Starting a distillery, they learned, is not as simple as experimenting and concocting recipes from a still in the garage.

“It’s a federal felony to own and operate a still,” Ray said. “So we had to get licensed before we could even start to do research and development.”

Even before they could apply for a federal license, Charles explained, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau required them to purchase all the equipment and have a secure location and obtain a lease on the property. There were also state and local licenses and permits to secure.

“We had to purchase the equipment and start making lease payments, not knowing if we would get federal and state licenses and approval from the Town Council,” Charles said. “You have to have all that before you can turn the power on for the still.”

A civil engineer by trade, Charles drew up a business plan and secured the requisite approvals. Ray, the creative one in the trio, studied the craft of distilling and began to tinker with botanicals, most of it locally sourced, to concoct spirits with distinctive flavors.

Staying true to Short Creek

Both area natives, the Hammons’ goal is to produce an authentic product that is true to the history and essence of Short Creek, which was sacred to Native Americans and settled by ranchers who predated the arrival of the polygamous groups.

“We get the opportunity to be part of the new Short Creek while honoring the past,” Ray said. “And there is a long, storied past that has nothing to do with Warren Jeffs and everything to do with the people who pioneered this difficult and beautiful terrain.”

For Charles, that authenticity is expressed in the gift boxes customers can buy to enclose the product they buy at Short Creek Spirits. A local craftsman fashions the gift boxes from cottonwood trees at a nearby park where Charles used to play as a boy.

Perhaps the most important ingredient, they say, is the water from Short Creek, which is the lifeline of the valley tucked beneath majestic mountains, redrock cliffs and cerulean skies. Ray said the local water they sourced from Short Creek paired better with their spirits than the water they tapped from elsewhere.

Charles noted that local ingredients like water help ground their products in the region’s history, imbuing them with a distinct sense of place. This, in turn, allows their customers to forge a deeper connection with the area’s heritage and with one another, he said.

Short Creek Spirits is housed in a former chicken factory, the interior of which the partners have lovingly remodeled into a swank tasting room replete with a bar lined with stools and a comfortable couch and lounge chairs. A room in the back of the building contains the three stills and other equipment used to produce the potents.

Besides serving alcohol, the tasting room often doubles as a gathering place that patrons can rent out for birthday bashes, corporate parties and other events that feature catering from local restaurants. Ray’s favorite event is the fundraiser he and his partners staged recently to help a local hospitalized with lung cancer.

Hopes and aspirations

Short Creek’s customers come from all over, drawn to the distillery by word of mouth. A sizable chunk of them, Charles said, come from St. George and are members of Utah’s dominant faith that bars alcohol consumption.

“I’ve had multiple people from St. George come here and tell me they don’t drink, but they have a cousin or relative who does,” Charles said. “They say, ‘I’m just buying a bottle to let them try it.’ Others who choose to have a cocktail enjoy hanging out at the distillery, where they won’t be looked down on and can just be themselves.”

Buckskin Tavern owner Taylor Sampson said the spirits, especially the gin, attracted a loyal fan base at his business in Fredonia, Arizona.

“We sell quite a bit of it to tourists and others who are passing through,” he said, “when I tell them about the history of Short Creek and how it is changing now that they have a brewery and a distillery there.”

Going forward, the Hammons say they plan to expand the distillery’s offering to whiskey and other spirits, as well as offer food so people can dine and better drink in the ambiance of the place. They are also looking to ship their product directly to Arizona residents and to expand the operating hours of their business, which is currently open Wednesday through Sunday.

Their biggest goal, however, is about connection, not dollars and cents.

“We want to continue being a part of our customers’ lives, to hear their stories and help them learn about Short Creek,” Ray said. “We are striving to be a positive addition to the culture of southern Utah and northern Arizona. That’s my biggest hope and aspiration.”