In 2012, Chad Butters was still serving on active duty in the Army when his wife, Jodi, was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. “As my wife was recovering from multiple surgeries, radiation and chemo treatments, we decided that we wanted to make a list of all the things we thought we might want to pursue to make us exceptionally happy,” says Butters. They wanted to spend more time with family, start a business, work together every day and be home together every night, work in a field related to agriculture and have fun. “That was our list of things that would make us exceptionally happy,” he says. “There were no longer things like vacation houses, boats, motorcycles, etc. Jodi's diagnosis had sharpened our clarity on what was truly important to us.”
Butters says that in order to act on that list, the first thing he needed to do was retire from the Army. They began to research businesses that would check off all of their boxes, along the way considering vegetable farming, a pick-your-own berry farm and even a winery. “It just didn't seem like a good fit for us,” he says. “However, we thought instead of growing grapes and making wine, why don't we grow grain and make whiskey?”
They started attending workshops and doing internships and, pretty quickly, sold their house, bought a farm and began working with friends and family to build their farm distillery. “At the end of the day, we were not passionate about distilling,” says Butters. “We were passionate about fulfilling the items on our list, and distilling is the vehicle that lets us do that. Now, we pour our hearts and souls into this business, and it has many challenges, but it has also led to exceptional happiness.”
As a farm distillery, Eight Oaks grows all of its own grains to make its spirits. “Agriculture was on our list. It was something we have always been interested in. It is important because it is authentic,” he says. “It harkens back to a different time when families grew and raised what they needed to support their family, their neighbors and their community.” At the end of the day, Butters says they simply want to earn a reputation as a business that truly cares about their community.
Published as "Voices of the Valley" in the February 2022 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
