New distiller to sell vodka here
27.02.2008 02:00
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- Source: JS Online
A new Wisconsin-based artisan distillery will soon begin selling its vodka in the Milwaukee area, the company's owner said Tuesday. 45th Parallel Spirits LLC of New Richmond in St. Croix County started selling 45th Parallel Vodka last fall in the Minneapolis area and northwestern Wisconsin. The company is now expanding into the Madison and Milwaukee areas, with distribution being handled by General Beverage Sales Co., said Paul Werni, 45th Parallel's founder. The products should be available locally within the next week or so. 45th Parallel becomes the latest Wisconsin-based distiller to enter the Milwaukee area. Two years ago, there were no state-based distillers operating in Wisconsin. In 2006, Milwaukee-based Great Lakes Distillery LLC began selling its Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Vodka, followed by last year's launch of Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Gin. Madison-based Death's Door Spirits LLC last year began selling its vodka and gin distilled from Door County wheat. Death's Door distills its sprits in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but later this year will transfer that operation to the newly launched Yahara Bay Distillers Inc., in Madison. Yahara Bay recently began selling its own vodka, gin and other spirits in the Madison area. 45th Parallel, Yahara Bay and Great Lakes are all part of a nationwide trend of small distilleries producing vodka, gin and other higher quality spirits in small batches. The movement is similar to the craft beer trend, which has seen the creation of hundreds of small, independent breweries through the United States, including around 30 craft breweries and brew pubs in Wisconsin. Werni, a Milwaukee native whose family moved to Merrill when he was 10, formerly operated a landscaping construction business in Minneapolis. He sold that business a few years ago. "I wanted to do something creative, and this fit the bill," Werni said about the spirits business. Werni had learned about craft distilling on a trip to Texas, and found there was no one doing anything similar in the Twin Cities area. He started the business in New Richmond, about 50 miles northeast of Minneapolis, in part because he wanted to move with his family back to small-town Wisconsin. The company's name is a reference to the 45th parallel, which is roughly half way between the equator and the North Pole. That latitude runs near the New Richmond distillery.
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