Wisconsin, known for beer since the first German pitched his tent on the soil, has become one of the centers for the craft beer resurgence. But craft spirits? Several Badger State firms have cropped up lately with their own lines of hard alcohol, among them, Great Northern Distilling from Plover, a hamlet just south of Stevens Point.
“It’s an agricultural area,” explains Great Northern Marketing Director Tim Demeter. “The potatoes for the vodka grow two miles from our distillery. You can practically watch them grow.” And that’s the point: The vodka, whiskey and gin are small-batch handcrafted products made from ingredients harvested in Wisconsin. The gin is made with red winter wheat from Lonesome Stone Milling from Lone Rock, Wis. The botanicals are all northern climate with coriander in place of the usual lemon zest.
Great Northern’s Opportunity Rum is the one exception, given that sugar cane is not one of Wisconsin’s cash crops. “We fell into it,” Demeter says. “At a food production facility near Plover, two tons of sugar were poked by a forklift. It couldn’t be used as food any longer, but we felt it would be irresponsible to waste it.” Great Northern’s founder, Brian Cummins, planned to drop rum after selling that batch—until Opportunity Rum won a silver star at San Francisco’s World Spirits Competition.
Sustainability as well as quality are at the heart of Great Northern’s vision. The carbon footprint is baby size given that most ingredients come from within 150 miles of the distillery. Great Northern products are available in the Milwaukee area at Ray’s Wine & Spirits, Consumer Beverage, Discount Liquor and Woodman’s Food Market. For more information, visit greatnortherndistilling.com
