Cheers to 20 Years!
A Year of Celebration
Starting in October 2024, we’re kicking off a year-long celebration of our 20th anniversary! We officially started our company and embarked on this journey on October 1, 2004. After much hard work and lots of planning, preparations, and experimentation, we sold our first bottles of spirits in October 2005.
Celebrating How Far We’ve Come
In 2004, we saw an opportunity to express our creative energy through our interest in spirits, so we created Illinois’ first small scale licensed distillery since Prohibition. Being one of only a handful of like-minded entrepreneurial connoisseurs, we blazed a path that many have since followed, creating a vibrant tapestry of craft spirit producers.
Our first releases were North Shore Vodka and Distiller’s Gin No. 6 (now simply known as Gin No 6). Both spirits quickly took the spirit world by storm, winning numerous national awards and establishing us as a leader in the craft spirits world. From there, we expanded into other spirits categories over the years, including aquavit, absinthe, orange liqueurs, whiskeys and even rum. We’ve also done a series of Limited Release Spirits, using highly unusual ingredients like Medjool dates, local elderberries, mustard seed and even bok choy.
The past 20 years have held their fair share of challenges for us, from a lack of consumer awareness, to a historic recession, and a global pandemic! We’re so proud to have withstood it all. We’ve learned and grown so much in the past 20 years and have found many ways to let our artistic vision of life come through in our spirits.
A Year of Fun
We’re planning some really fun & unique events to mark this important milestone. Thus far, our plans include:
- Kickoff Celebration at the distillery on October 5, 2024, with great cocktails, live music and other fun surprises, including the release of a special edition American whiskey
- New Spirit Releases, including a very special malt whiskey release for the holiday season and two more as-yet unannounced new spirits in 2025
- Unique celebrations with our long-standing friends in the industry, including a special spirit release celebration at Hopleaf and a retrospective tasting event at Weegee’s in Chicago
And much more! We hope you’ll join us and raise a toast to 20 years of great spirits!
