One hundred years ago, the cellar of what was then the new St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, and now is the Leijona apartment building, was jammed with hundreds of confiscated moonshine stills. It was the time of Prohibition. The March 30, 1925 Duluth Herald reported that storing all the stills was becoming a problem. …
The Arrowhead region’s supply of hooch expanded in April when Copper Crow Distillery opened on the Red Cliff Reservation about four miles north of Bayfield. It joins Vikre Distillery in Duluth as the area’s only makers of alcoholic spirits. …
Vikre Distillery took first place in a USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice award for best craft specialty spirits, beating out major players like St. George Spirits and Koval Distillery.
Joel and Emily Vikre founded the craft distillery in 2012 and started selling gin and aquavit to the public in 2014. With traditional distilling methods, Lake Superior water and the inventive use of local botanicals foraged in the Northwoods, Vikre is creating unparalleled products. …
Kevin Evans, CEO of Duluth Whiskey Project LLC, is interested in opening a distillery at the former Franklin Foods facility on the 1900 block of West First St. in Duluth’s West End. The Duluth News Tribune reports the Duluth City Council could vote tonight on a resolution authorizing up to $50,000 for Barr Engineering Co. to conduct an environmental investigation of the former Arrowhead-Kemps dairy operation, which closed in 2013. The property is listed by Holappa Commercial Real Estate at $450,000. …
