Picture These Local Craft Distilleries
Recapping Binny's Craft Spirits event, and our subscription fundraiser is on
These Craftsters Ready for Their Closeups
I have been a regular for years at the spirits tasting events held at Binny’s Beverage Depot’s Lincoln Park flagship location. So I made time to drop by on October 26 when the store held its inaugural American Craft Spirits event.
The producers came from a wide geographical range, but of course Local Food Forum focused on those in the four-state Lake Michigan region. I’ll let the pictures tell the story, with some details and one big fact about each distillery.
Apologue Liqueurs, Chicago
Along with their liqueurs in creative flavors such as aronia, celery root, persimmon and saffron, Apologue produces canned margaritas sold by the Big Star restaurants.
https://www.apologueliqueurs.com/
FEW Spirits, Evanston, Illinois
Not only was FEW in the vanguard of Chicago-area craft distilleries when it opened in 2011, it is located in Evanston, which for many years was a hotbed for Prohibitionist sentiment; F.E.W. were the initials of Frances E. Willard, a Northwestern University instructor who headed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the late 19th century.
Hendricks Family Distillery, Omro, Wisconsin
Hendricks is operated by a family of first-time distillers; their HFD Rum was first released just this year.
Iron Fish Distillery, Thompsonville, Michigan
Iron Fish, based in the northwest part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula (near Traverse City), is one of a handful of distilleries across the nation that are located on the farm that grows its grain.
https://ironfishdistillery.com/
Judson & Moore, Chicago
Local Food Forum recently published an article about Judson & Moore, which produces fine whiskeys in a former leather tannery in Avondale’s Rockwell on the River complex; Collin Young and Elise Bergman, the married owners, persevered to open the distillery last year after a series of setbacks that included a fire, a family tragedy, and the COVID shutdowns.
https://www.localfoodforum.com/blog-feed/whiskeys-the-word-at-judson-amp-moore
Koval Distillery, Chicago
Koval, which uses only organic Midwestern grain, was the first licensed distillery in the city of Chicago since Prohibition when it opened in 2008; it is an anchor of Malt Row, an area of Chicago’s North Side that has a concentration of adult beverage producers.
https://www.koval-distillery.com/newsite/
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery, Chicago
Maplewood, located in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, is one of a small number of producers nationwide that make both spirits and beer.
Star Union Spirits, Peru, Illinois
Star Union has one of the widest ranges of types of spirits among the region’s craft distilleries.
Thornton Distilling, Thornton, Illinois
Thornton, located in the Chicago south suburb of the same name, distills its spirits in a building, opened in 1857, that was once one of Illinois’ earliest breweries.
https://thorntondistilling.com/
Whiskey Acres Distilling, DeKalb, Illinois
Another distillery located on the farm where its grain is grown, Whiskey Acres makes finely crafted spirits from a wide variety of corn. Their Bloody Butcher whiskey, from a red corn by the same name, was released on the day of the Binny’s event.