tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23908494758147647702012-02-16T08:58:22.401-06:00The Going's on at one of North America's Premier Craft Distilleries! This is a team blog authored by the staff of our tiny distillery. Authors include Guy Rehorst Distillery Founder, Ryan Rappis -Brand Ambassador/Marketing Manager, Doug MacKenzie -Distiller and Jason Neu -Distillery Mixologist. While written by the distillery staff, this blog does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the company or the other authors.Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-67563805359341848622010-01-21T16:17:00.003-06:002010-01-21T16:28:11.387-06:00

Now that we do tours of the distillery we've found certain questions get asked a lot. One of the most popular is "what do you do with your grain after it has been used for your products?" Traditionally distilleries have sold or given their "spent grain" to local farmers who use it as feed for cattle and hogs. Unfortunately this didn't work for us because we produce very little and we're located

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-13220052510159951932009-11-04T11:07:00.003-06:002009-11-04T11:43:38.318-06:00

It's a rare victory for Spirits producers, wholesalers and the service industry. The Wisconsin state Senate has dropped an effort to increase excise tax on spirits 58%. The increase was said to help legislators fund harsher drunk driving laws. Senator Jim Sullivan the Senate sponsor of the plan had a change of heart when it was discovered the cost estimates were likely twice as high as previously

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-76456578224600491122009-10-07T10:33:00.006-05:002009-10-07T14:13:12.801-05:00

Several Wisconsin state senators are proposing an increase of 58% in the excise tax on spirits. It seems they realize they can't get the increase in tax on beer that they wanted just a few weeks ago and like any good predator have chosen to prey on what they perceive as a weaker target- spirits producers and wholesalers. So, what is excise tax? All alcohol producers pay federal excise tax upon

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-82172019044006139062009-05-28T11:15:00.011-05:002009-05-28T14:00:38.723-05:00

Distillery friend Scott W. stopped by this morning. He's had a bottle of old whiskey collecting dust and decided who better to share it with than his good friends at Great Lakes? Scott got the bottle from his grandfather. The bottle itself is a neat artifact considering this was prohibition era "Medicinal" whiskey, but the fact that there was still whiskey in it really had us intrigued.The bottle

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-43638620390522794352009-03-18T20:26:00.003-05:002009-03-18T21:35:19.929-05:00

I just had an interesting cocktail making session at home this evening, and thought I should throw up a quick post about it.I've been working on some new cocktails for the Pear Brandy, the Kirsch, and the Grappa. This has been a bit challenging because the brandies have a wonderful nose and a delicate flavor that I don't want to bury with too many other ingredients. In addition I've been working

Jason Neuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850150112560552229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-75319922021493198142009-03-09T15:51:00.005-05:002009-03-09T15:58:59.946-05:00

I just finished distilling this year’s batch of Pumpkin Seasonal Spirit. For those of you not familiar with it, let me explain. We take Lakefront Brewery’s Pumpkin Spice Lager and distill it, then age it in used bourbon barrels for the summer and bottle it for release in fall. This is not some sort of sickly sweet pumpkin liquer. The best way to describe it is a lightly flavored, young malt

Doug MacKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09424920183174390767noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-45746705104884692142009-03-05T10:23:00.004-06:002009-03-05T10:44:57.474-06:00

In my last post I mentioned the three brandies that were about to be released. Now that they’re available, I thought I would explain them in a bit more detail.Let’s start with the grappa. Grappa has its origins in Italy and seems to have a reputation as harsh, fire-water type of beverage that old Italian men drink as some sort of right of passage. This can be true, but there are many wonderful

Doug MacKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09424920183174390767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-21169841875705986462009-01-28T11:06:00.005-06:002009-01-28T14:53:18.136-06:00

It’s been a busy winter here. We’ve settled into our new location and started production from where we left off in September. In addition to multiple batches of vodka, gin and citrus-honey vodka, I was able to distill some pear and cherry wine from our friends at AeppelTreow Winery in Burlington. These two unaged brandies will be released soon along with the Grappa that was distilled last year.

Doug MacKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09424920183174390767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-17348601633944968092009-01-15T22:55:00.004-06:002009-01-15T23:49:07.685-06:00

Greetings, Jason here, just throwing in my two cents or so. With my 10+ years behind the bar, my near obsession with old cocktail books and bar tools, and complete submersion into the cocktail geek culture (magazines, blogs, competitions...) I'm the guy in charge of cocktails at the Great Lakes Distillery (or, as I'm affectionately known to the other guys at the distillery "cocktail monkey").So,

Jason Neuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850150112560552229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-45436725943130551682009-01-11T10:50:00.006-06:002009-01-11T11:43:43.860-06:00

A recent survey of Chefs by the American Culinary Federation ranks "Micro-distilled/artisan liquor" as 9th out of 208 items on their list of hot trends for 2009. Other spirit and cocktail related rankings include;9 "micro-distilled/artisan spirits"16 "culinary cocktails"23 "food/alcohol pairings (beer, wine and spirits)" 41 "organic cocktails"49 "muddled cocktails"82 "martini/flavored martinis"84

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-85885072897048317542009-01-09T11:22:00.004-06:002009-01-09T11:50:00.121-06:00

Well, here is my first blog!!!!!It seems as though this whole distillery thing was meant to be... and started over 300 years ago in my family which has roots in Greece and Italy. I was contacted by Luca Corte Rappis who resides in Italy. He found me through facebook and was surprised to find relatives in the U.S. After chating for awhile he proceeds to send me a link to information about

Ryan Rappishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16224427701392841113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390849475814764770.post-67519089886088175762008-12-31T11:50:00.007-06:002009-01-04T20:25:55.594-06:00

Welcome to "Distilled", a team blog authored by the staff of Great Lakes Distillery. Our intent is to use this blog to discuss various topics that we think may interest you. Consider this a little insiders view of our distilling world. We plan to cover a wide range of topics including spirits, what we're working on at the distillery, what we're drinking, mixology, politics as they relate to

Guy Rehorstnoreply@blogger.com0