You know those Groupons/Living Social/Insert Name Here kinds of deals that seem to pile up in your inbox and almost forget to use them? I purchased a tour, tasting for 4 and $30 towards goods a few months ago and we finally remembered to use it last weekend.
Jess, Matt, Scott and I headed east to New Richmond, Wisconsin. About an hour from the Twin Cities to go check out 45th Parallel Distillery. They were one of the early smaller distilleries, yes they are the huge brands but the smaller ones get to try some really interesting things.
That is a lot of $$$ in copper sitting there just to distill spirits!
They started out distilling vodka and have now added whiskey, rye, aquavit, limoncello and orangecello. We got a tour of the facility and learned a little about the process and just how time consuming it is. Unlike wine or beer when you can potentially have a product in a few months or a year, spirits; especially whiskey take years. Kind of hard to put all those start up costs in and wait to see any profits. But now they are to the point where they are starting to bottle that oh so time consuming whiskey. And it’s good. Really really good! Out of all the things we tried the whiskey, vodka and limoncello were at the top of my list. The rye was just a little too strong for me and apparently this non Scandinavian girl just really isn’t that into aquavit.
We bought a bottle of the 45th Parallel Vodka and I can’t wait to make bloodymarys with this…
Signs of a really good tour and happy guests:
And I do think no distillery is complete without the dog. Meet Jake. The friendliest, happiest distillery dog I’ve ever met. He came to greet and get pets from everyone on the tour. He makes me have big dog puppy fever (don’t tell Scott that).
If you happen to be heading towards Hudson and New Richmond I really recommend checking out 45th Parallel for a tour. Make a reservation and enjoy the sampling and learning.
45th Parallel
1570 Madison Ave
New Richmond, WI 54017