Jeff Dugas

Dread River Doc

Dr. Jeffery Dugas, MD, was born in 1967 in Schenectady, New York. His father worked in sales and marketing for a major chemical company; his mother was an educator. These parental careers shaped what would become Jeff’s twin passions: science and teaching. As a teenager, Dugas loved math and science. A family friend who was then chair of what’s now the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department at North Carolina State University, encouraged him to consider majoring in chemical engineering in college, writing that if he could succeed there, “it will keep all doors open.” Dugas followed that advice, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from NC State in 1990.

From there, he went on to Duke University School of Medicine, graduating in 1994. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, then moved to Birmingham, Alabama, for a fellowship in sports medicine at the renowned American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI).

Throughout his medical career, Dugas has worn many roles. He is a partner at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center. He serves as the medical director of USA Cheer, Associate Medical Director for WWE, and is on the National Concussion Task Force for youth sports. He is board-certified in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine, and works with athletes of all levels, especially in dealing with injuries to the shoulder, elbow, and knee. He has published extensively in his field.

Outside the hospital and lecture halls, Dugas has a family life grounded in sports, music, and the outdoors. He is married to Tracie Dugas, and they have two children, Christopher and Caroline. The Dugas family enjoys sports (in more than one sense), fishing, playing baseball, and golf. The multitalented Dr. Jeff even plays guitar.

Dugas’s hobby side, the curiosity about fermentation, brewing, and distilling, was always present. While vacationing in places like South Carolina, he forged relationships with fellow enthusiasts and even helped with brokering rum into Alabama. He noticed something odd: despite Birmingham’s rich industrial and cultural history, it lacked a commercial-scale distillery with tours and tastings. That gap caught his attention. Along with his cofounder, former Auburn football player John Cubelic, Dugas spent much of 2016 and 2017 visiting dozens of distilleries across the country to learn the particulars of the craft, such as the regulatory landscape, design, finance, and logistics.

In the spring of 2017, Jeff Dugas and John Cubelic formally began planning a new craft whiskey distillery under the name Dread River Distilling Company. The name “Dread River” reflects a combination of myth, metaphor, and place, inspired by the legend of a subterranean waterway flowing beneath Birmingham, and also by the idea of facing challenges: crossing rivers, facing dread, overcoming obstacles.

After navigating years of permits, city and state regulations, and building out infrastructure, the distillery opened its doors in August 2019 in a repurposed historic building (formerly Peck & Hills) on 7th Avenue South in downtown Birmingham. The facility covers approximately 24,000 square feet of working space, plus a large tasting room, full-service kitchen, bar, merchandise store, and about 4,000 sq. ft. of event space. Dread River is now the largest distillery in Alabama.