Craft Vodka Distillery Planned In Highwood

HIGHWOOD, IL — Plans are brewing for a new craft distillery on the North Shore. A group of investors, including a Highwood alderman and his brother, hope to open up 28 Mile Vodka Company at 450-454 Sheridan Rd. by the end of the year. Located beside Doris Bridal Boutique in the former site of Carousel Linen, the two-story facility is set to feature an Art Deco-styled tasting room, tours of the site and a 19-foot still visible from the street through a renovated glass facade.

Eric Falberg, his brother Greg and three other investors bought the property last November, but chemicals left behind when the linen company moved out about eight years ago are still being cleaned up. He said they recently obtained their federal distiller's license and are working through the state and local regulation process.

The company's focus will be on vodka, Falberg explained.

"Our goal is to be the next Tito's," he said. "They've done a fabulous job of marketing their product, we think we're going to have a better one."

The distillery will eventually produce other spirits, he said, including various types of gin, apple brandy and, after a couple years, whiskey. All its products will be grain to glass, with no neutral grain spirits mixed in, he said.

There will also be some food on offer at the tasting room. Falberg envisions small plates showcasing local restaurants.

Currently the vice-president of a propane company, Falberg has been involved in a wide variety of entrepreneurial ventures over the years, but this is the first time he's started a new business in his hometown.

"If I'm going to open a business, I want to open a business where I know I'm going to be a long time. It happened to be the right spot at the right time," he said.

The business of craft distilling is poised for significant growth. Falberg described it as similar to where the micro-brewery industry was in 1985.

Over the past year, more jobs were added in breweries, wineries and distilleries than in all but one other sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The adult beverage category has grown more than 11 percent a year over the past decade, compared to just 1.7 percent growth for nonfarm payrolls, according to a piece in Bloomberg View. And Highwood, formerly the only wet community between Evanston and Kenosha, once had a record holding number of bars and earned the nickname "Whiskey Junction," according to the Chicago Historical Society.

The high mineral content in the city's water supply was another part of the site's appeal, Falberg said.

"They're leaving the minerals in the water that should be in the water."

Falberg is also the president of Celebrate Highwood, the two-year-old, nonprofit, private tourism bureau that puts on Highwood's summer festivals, where he's helped found events like the Bloody Mary Fest – now in its ninth year – and last year's inaugural Taco Fest.

"It's a downtown that's already thriving, and we think we can only add to it," he said.

If the plan is approved, he will recuse himself from votes on any liquor-related matters or anything else to do with the distillery, he said.

The proposal goes before the Highwood Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday before it gets considered by the full City Council, which could come next month. Work on the building could begin as early as May, and the owners are targeting a fall opening date.

The distillery requires city approval because it exceeds a 4,000-square-foot limit on business that produce alcohol. It will also need to be granted an exception to parking requirements. Falberg doesn't forsee that being a problem, as the building will be renovated to allow people to walk through the building after parking in the rear on Bank Lane – where Kings and Convicts Brewing Company opened last year.