Putting Palisade First At Peach Street Distillers

Four Palisade residents are working to make Peach Street Distillers peachy again.

Michael Lewis and Cody Butters Lewis, born and raised in Palisade, along with business partners Jesse and Desa Loughman, decided to purchase the iconic local business and bring the locals back in. Butters Lewis says the group agreed that the brand needed to be “revived” after transitioning to a more tourist-focused approach.

Photo courtesy of Peach Street Distillers

“Things have really changed here. It was just a different vibe in here altogether,” she says. “So, Mike and I made a commitment to each other that we would come in and make Peach Street peachy again.”

They revamped the service model, adding an expanded cocktail menu, a trolley kitchen and greater capacity for guests. Operations are now simplified and streamlined — and the beloved local discount has made its return. In mid-October, they celebrated with a “Welcome Back” party.

“The response has been incredibly positive and supportive from our community,” Butters Lewis says. “The distillery is such a staple in Palisade. We just want to be a pillar in our community again, and we want to be a really fun place for our agritourism visitors who come from all over.”

The distillery — Colorado’s oldest craft producer — released a 10-year-old barrel-aged pear gin for the party in October. They also have a 14-year bourbon that was released as a tasting room exclusive in November and a 10-year bourbon that will go out to distribution in January.

The first priority is to get their own house dialed in, but down the road Butters Lewis is looking at tapping into her network of contacts from a prior career in beverage alcohol — which started with Palisade Brewing, followed by MillerCoors and Jagermeister/Teremana Tequila — to grow Peach Street’s footprint within Colorado and eventually beyond.

“My husband and I, we want to live and breathe and put everything we have into this place,” she says. “‘This is my last job,’ I tell my staff quite frequently.”

Originally published in the winter 2025-26 issue of Spoke+Blossom.