Wisconsin’s first distillery since Prohibition beats the odds and finds success.

By Jeanette Hurt

After spending most of his professional life as co-founder of Wisconsin’s only manufacturer of CD-ROM/DVDs, Guy Rehorst was looking for a new challenge. The next company he would establish would not only be a world away from staring at a computer all day, it would also be a first for Wisconsin. “I considered doing something like a microbrewery or a winery, as home brewing and wine making had been a hobby,” Rehorst says. “But the more I looked at it, the more I realized there were a lot of microbrewers in the area who were doing a much better job than I could. It was as if I had come too late to the party.”

Still, the idea of setting up his own microbrewery or boutique winery wouldn’t leave his mind. Then, when he was out to dinner one night with his wife, Rehorst had an inspiration: Instead of going with wine or beer, why not a handcrafted spirit? So, Rehorst decided to establish a small, craft distillery and make premium vodka. But while it’s relatively easy to set up a microbrewery, it’s not so simple to set up a distillery. In fact, it took Rehorst 18 months of research (studying methods and laws of distilling), reading (the book of federal laws concerning distillers is more than 1,000 pages long), schooling (at the only three craft distillery workshops in the United States) and foraging through red tape to lay the proper foundation for his new venture.

“See this book?” Rehorst says, holding up a manual that is more than a foot thick. “These are the regulations.”

Rehorst persevered, and finally, in October 2006, he was ready for business. In an old dairy on the edge of Milwaukee’s funky Riverwest neighborhood, he opened Great Lakes Distillery (www.greatlakesdistillery.com)—the first distillery in Wisconsin since Prohibition. “When somebody calls me, interested in setting up a craft distillery, I try to explain the reality,” says Bill Owens, who founded the American Distilling Institute four years ago. “Here’s the analogy: It’s the middle of winter, it’s 12 below, and there’s a flagpole out there. You know the old saying ‘Don’t put your tongue on it?’ Well, if you had 12 distillers out there, it would be a race to see who could put their tongue on the flagpole first. It’s a real challenge to set up an artisan distillery.”

But it was a challenge Rehorst was up to. After a couple of months, he hired his first full-time employee, Doug MacKenzie, to help him transform Wisconsin wheat and imported yeast into premium vodka and gin. A gleaming copper still, imported from Germany, dominates the stark warehouse. One corner houses a couple of desks with computers; nearby is a small wooden bar, where Rehorst and MacKenzie run taste tests. Less than a year after starting, Rehorst hired his first full-time sales manager, Ryan Rappis. While Rehorst’s wife and father help out occasionally, there are only three full-time employees, counting himself.

Despite such daunting odds, Rehorst may be moving out of his 3,000-foot space to a location where he can do aged distilling. When he started, he sold his product to 70 restaurants and liquor stores; today, it’s sold in more than 2,000 different venues and shops. Rehorst products have recently started shipping throughout the country. During the first few months of the company’s existence, it sold perhaps 300 bottles a month; now, it ships at least 2,000 bottles of spirits a month.

According to Rehorst, quality is what drives the sales. “If we get people to try it, especially compared to what they usually drink, we have a pretty high success rate,” Rehorst says. “A lot of people are initially attracted to the product because it’s made in Wisconsin. Then they try it, and it amazes them.”

To make the vodka, a “mash” is made out of wheat, yeast and water, which is run through the still two, three, sometimes four times. Each time, the mash’s “head” and “tail” are discarded. Then a hand-rigged filter removes impurities. Matched against Grey Goose, Rehorst offers a similar smoothness but with a sweeter edge and a less pronounced aftertaste. “The sweetness of the wheat comes through,” Rehorst says.

It is Rehorst’s sweet taste that has won over more than just consumers. Just six months into its first year of production, Rehorst Vodka received a silver medal at the 2007 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. “It’s a very smooth vodka, with a little edge,” says Peter Clement, bar manager at Elliott’s Bistro in Milwaukee. Clement recommends drinking Rehorst on the rocks or in a Dirty Martini.

After much experimentation, Rehorst and Mackenzie have also branched out into gin, made with nine different botanicals, including the never-before-used-in-gin sweet basil and Wisconsin ginseng. These ingredients give the gin a new life, with a flavor that is distinct and indigenous to Wisconsin. “We toned down the juniper, increased the citrus, and the nose on it is real floral,” Rehorst says. “It gives it a lot more flavor than most gins. What’s really nice about the ginseng is that it makes all the different flavors pop. We’ve reintroduced gin to people who swore off it years ago.”

Besides the gin, Rehorst and MacKenzie continue their experiments. They have a handful of oak barrels of whiskey and scotch aging, along with plans to try out a few more exotic spirits as well. Taking risks is part of the game for Great Lakes Distillery. Whether it is doing what others said couldn’t be done, or adding new ingredients and improving age-old recipes, it often pays off to follow your heart and do what comes naturally.

KINDRED SPIRITS

Other Wisconsin Distilleries

Though Great Lakes Distillery was the first, there are now two other craft distilleries in Wisconsin: DEATH’S DOOR VODKA (deathsdoorspirits. com) in Door County and 45TH PARALLEL (45thparallelspirits.com) near Minnesota’s Twin Cities. All three businesses have captured the trend of craft distilleries. At last count, there are 127 craft distilleries in the United States; a decade ago, there were fewer than 10. “It just takes the right combination of personality and knowhow,” says Bill Owens, founder of the American Distilling Institute. “There are no consultants in this business. They don’t exist.

I tell everybody, ‘Keep your day job, and don’t leave your day job until year five.’ It takes that kind of ingenuity, and that kind of person, and there are not many of those.”