From bourbon to japaleño vodka, Bradenton’s first distillery to celebrate 3 years

James A. Jones Jr.
·3 min read
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As the third anniversary of Loaded Cannon Distillery approaches, president and founder Steve Milligan reflects that it has been a “wild ride.”

That’s not so unusual for a new business, where hard work and unexpected bumps in the road are the norm.

Eight months after opening, the Bradenton area’s first distillery switched from making spirits — rum, gin and vodka — to making hand sanitizer, a critically short commodity during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, manufacturers could not keep up with the demand, so Milligan decided to do his part to fight the pandemic. Following World Health Organization guidelines, he made and gave away bottles of hand sanitizer to hospitals, first responders and to anyone who needed it.

About four months later, with manufacturing capacity catching up with demand for hand sanitizer, Loaded Cannon was able to switch back to making spirits.

The distillery offered about a 10 kinds of spirits three years ago. Today, there are about three dozen choices, ranging from multiple flavors of vodka to gin, rum, whiskey and bourbon.

Loaded Cannon was recently named as having the best flavored vodka in North America by LUX Life magazine. It also received the gold medal for straight bourbon at the 2022 Bartender Spirits Awards in San Francisco.

“Being recognized as having the best flavored vodka in North America was a shock because the little guys are seldom recognized. When they called, I said you’re kidding me,” Milligan said.

Milligan continues to work to get more customers into his pirate-themed tasting room in Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd.

Guests can see the gleaming copper and stainless steel distillery through a ceiling-high glass wall behind the bar.

They can also sign up for a hands-on, intimate tour of Loaded Cannon.

“We will share with you the details of our craft and our commitment to the quality of small production distillation. We will take you through our efficient production area, fermentation, bottling area and finally, a tasting will follow inside our tasting room,” the company website says.

Milligan also continues to work to get his bottled spirits into more local restaurants and bars, and is making inroads with a number of local establishments that carry Loaded Cannon products.

Among his most popular products are straight bourbon whiskey, jalapeno vodka and black cherry vodka.

“We use real fruits, and for the most part we don’t add artificial flavors,” Milligan said. An exception might be butterscotch rum, because there is no butterscotch fruit.

Alana Morley, events planner and bartender for Loaded Cannon, said the business is built on a loyal customer base.

“Seventy percent of the people here are return customers,” Morley said.

“I think Steve is a genius and I think our products are amazing. They are made of all natural products. I think my favorite is the orange vodka. It makes a really good cocktail,” she said.

Milligan is a chemical engineer and began making spirits for foreigners while working in Saudi Arabia. With the encouragement he received from them, he decided to open a distillery after returning to the United States.

Working behind the scenes is Milligan’s wife, Carmen, who makes the invert sugar used as a sweetener, does the bottling, and also toasts the coconut used in toasted coconut rum.

Loaded Cannon plans to celebrate its third birthday from noon to 7 p.m. July 16 with multiple food trucks, vendor booths, live music and games for children.

Loaded Cannon is open noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. On Fridays, Loaded Cannon also features live music and a food truck.

The business is closed Monday and Tuesday.

For more information, visit http://loadedcannondistillery.com/ or call 941-900-1482.

Steve Milligan, founder, president and chief distiller at Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., looks 6/28/2022 at barrels of aging spirits.
Steve Milligan, founder, president and chief distiller at Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., looks 6/28/2022 at barrels of aging spirits.
Steve Milligan, founder, president and chief distiller at Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., stands at the bar of the tasting room 6/28/2022.
Steve Milligan, founder, president and chief distiller at Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., stands at the bar of the tasting room 6/28/2022.
Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., now produces and sells about three dozens types of spirits, including these bottles of whiskey and bourbon, shown 6/28/2022.
Loaded Cannon Distillery, Suite 110 of the Gatewood Corporate Center, 3115 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., now produces and sells about three dozens types of spirits, including these bottles of whiskey and bourbon, shown 6/28/2022.