You know him from "Fargo". Perhaps you know him from his long-running show "Shameless" on Showtime? Or countless other movie roles. He's William H. Macy and he was in the Twin Cities on Wednesday and was on DeRusha Eats with Jason DeRusha.
Wait, DeRusha Eats? Well, William H. Macy is talking about whiskey.
"You betcha," Macy says, dropping right back into his character from "Fargo," the 1996 cult classic film directed by St. Louis Park's Coen brothers that made Minnesota's accent (in)famous.
Macy spoke to DeRusha in a wide-ranging interview and about his new venture in the world of spirits.
DeRusha - That's very good, you've been in Minnesota for four days now, so you've got the bit down?
Macy - Yeah, it's contagious apparently.
DeRusha - You are here in town talking about Woody Creek Distillery. How did you get involved in whiskey?
Macy - I started out drinking it. I'm a big fan of spirits. I love scotch whiskey and I'm a southern boy, so I love bourbon. My wife grew up in Woody Creek, Colorado, and Woody Creek Distillers is from Colorado, our distillery is in Basalt, but the founders of it, Mark and Pat and and Mary live on Woody Creek Road, which is where I live, so they're my neighbors. They came down one time and said, "Do you want to join the distillery?" And I said, yes, absolutely, and I've been with them for about six years now. The distillery is 112-years old. And - to be blunt - we make the finest spirits in America. There are others that make fine spirits also, but nobody makes them better.
DeRusha - It takes some extreme confidence to say that when you look at the history, especially the bourbon history in the United States? You're a big rye guy, right?
Macy - Yeah, love the rye. I'm here selling it and we're going to our distributors, into liquor stores and the sales pitch is, 'let's taste your favorite bourbon,' and then we say 'this is our bourbon.' Let's taste your favorite rye, and we say 'thank you' and leave because when they taste it, it's just no question.
Everything comes from Colorado within 100 miles and our distillery is in Basalt, Colorado, and we make everything we sell. Nothing is sourced.
DeRusha - Which some of our listeners may not know, but quite a bit of bourbon, and I don't know, I don't have a strong opinion, if it's good, it's good. It's sort of my view, but I do like if you're gonna sell a story which any good spirit, part of the magic is the story. There's something more special when it does come from where you are, you know?
Macy - I think it makes a big difference. We have a 10-year relationship with all of our farmers.
DeRusha - From the immediate area there in Colorado?
Macy - Yeah. Kind of within 100 miles and we've been buying there for years now. Pat and Mary, who started the distillery, have the means to have two goals - to make the spirits we want to drink and to make the finest spirits possible. So we take no shortcuts, and yet we've been able to keep the price of the thing in the $50 range. And we do everything except tequila and rum. And as you said, I love the rye whiskey. It's America's whiskey, man.
DeRusha - I love rye whiskey and there's something about the complexity and the spiciness. There's that little hint of spice that that always gets me.
Macy - It's made from rye, we have a one source rye, but, rye is a weed and so when George Washington left office, he started distilling rye whiskey to make some money. They used to call it Old Monongahela because it came from my neck of the woods, I grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, and that whole area was a big manufacturer of rye whiskey.
DeRusha - I want to ask you because as an actor, you create? But you create a performance that people watch on a screen or here you're creating something that is more real than a performance in a movie or a TV series. But there is something tangible, you can hold it. I just wonder if that does anything for you? If that's something that you find, alluring?
Macy - A little bit. I love history and I love knowing where we've come from. So the history of distilling, I find endlessly fascinating. The parallels between acting and distilling, not too many, but one that I find interesting is that, generally speaking, as an actor, if you make it in the business, the older you get, the better you get. You just get better because you've had time on the boards.
DeRusha - Shouldn't you be working? What's going on in the acting world?
Macy - Well, I'm still acting. I just said yes to a film and I work a little bit less than I used to. I was on a series forever and that's pretty much a full-time job. But I live in Woody Creek and everything I used to be able to do in Hollywood I can do from Woody Creek. And I'm a little pickier about what I choose to do and I do love being the spokesperson for Woody Creek because I get to travel around. And the people in this industry, the hospitality industry we call it, are endlessly fascinating.
DeRusha - Do you worry at all, I mean, we are definitely seeing a younger generation redefining the way that they go out and the way that they imbibe, and we're seeing spirits down and, wine down, beer down, it seems cannabis is up?
Macy - Yep, I think it's all a good thing. I am very, very confident that drinking spirits is not gonna go away. Hadn't gone away for 2,000 years, and I don't think it's gonna go away in the next couple. I think you're right, but I think it's good that people are drinking more responsibly and taking care of their health.
I love cannabis personally. I find it very creative. I don't think there's a problem there.
DeRusha - Before you go, our next segment we are ranking our best finales, excellent, final episodes, final TV series, finales. Do you have a favorite?
Macy - Well, I'm really, really proud of "Shameless." I had a lot to do with it. I had strong opinions about it, and we started talking about a year and a half before it had ended and man, you can blow it. I mean, some shows end and people are actually angry with the last show. They go, "what's that about?" But I thought what (producer) John Wells did, and a guy named Chris Chulack, directed it, but I thought that final show was sublime. And I think my character Frank Gallagher had to go out that way. It was my idea that he didn't die of cirrhosis of the liver, but that he gets COVID and nobody knows it. And I just thought it was beautiful. It was funny, and it was true, and it was moving. And I was fine with it, you know? 11 years, they were amazing.
A lot of people were thinking, 'oh man, this is gonna be tough to let go of,' and I was doing well until, for those of you who haven't seen it, Frank sort of ascends out of the bar through the roof and into the heavens and, I love the way they shot it. But, I was up on the scissor lift and Chris Chulak who directed it, he says, 'Bill, look into the camera. This is the last time we will ever see Frank Gallagher, and I completely lost it up on there. Oh, I blubbered like a baby. That was something.
DeRusha - It's a lot of pressure, right? You want to have it be true to the story, but you also want to serve the audience for what their needs are. Do you do a happy ending? Do you do the right ending?
Macy - Yeah, it's tough. I was so proud to be in "Shameless" because They were so bold for 11 years. They never shied away from anything. I loved the way we dealt with sex on that show. It was so matter of fact and honest and interestingly, I happen to know that there were not many complaints. And every show gets a lot of complaints. There are people, but it was so honest and so simple and so obvious, people took it in stride. 9:25
DeRusha - Bill, so fun to talk to you. Thanks for coming in.
Macy - Thanks for having me and this is good.
Woody Creek whiskey and other spirits are available at several Twin Cities area liquor stores. You can find more information on it here.