Grand Traverse Distillery has announced the opening of its fourth tasting room – the third in less than a year – at the River Place Shops in downtown Frankenmuth, 925 S Main St, B 6, . “The Frankenmuth store is in an excellent location to accommodate our customers who live in Southeastern Michigan,” says owner Kent Rabish. “We are very excited to be finally opening this tasting room and introduce our award-winning products to a whole new marketplace!”
Visitors to the Frankenmuth tasting room will find GTD’s Wheat Vodka, True North Vodka and Cherry Flavored Vodka – as well as a variety of whiskey products like Ole George 100% Straight Rye Whiskey, Bourbon, a 2nd Straight Rye Whiskey, and a 100% Corn Whiskey. More varieties of whiskey are in the works.
“We will also be offering a whiskey blending service, where we can custom blend any whiskey to order for a customer, which they then take home along with a mini charred oak aging barrel to begin aging their own whiskey at home,” Kent says. “We offer this in Traverse City, but now we have a location convenient for people in Southeastern Michigan.”
Last summer, owner Rabish opened a location in Leland on the Leelanau Peninsula, not far from historic Fishtown and is also sharing a tasting room with Black Star Farms in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons in Traverse City. The original distillery and tasting room is located in Traverse City.
Michigan has established itself for its first-class wineries and breweries, and the craft distilling industry is now garnering attention. When you purchase these Michigan beverages, you not only support the local businesses but Michigan agriculture as well.
“We have choices now that were not available just a few years ago and we can choose to consume delicacies produced by our neighbors,” says Landis Rabish, President at GTD. “This is a revolution that has only just begun. It is gratifying to see that Michigan has not languished in the backwaters of this change, but instead is leading the way. Why buy produce from afar and ship it around the globe when we can grow it ourselves. Supporting products that are produced locally just makes sense for so many reasons.”
As a Michigan distiller, using locally-grown grains is a top priority. As such, Grand Traverse Distillery is proud to support Michigan agriculture. The company has purchased more than 750,000 pounds of rye, wheat and corn from local farmers since it began distilling its hand-crafted spirits in 2007.
“What people are discovering is that supporting local does not have to come at the expense of quality,” Landis says. “Crafting local spirits is not a new idea. Before prohibition, America had hundreds of distilleries around the country, all using local grains to produce mainly whiskey. It seems what is old is new again.”
Hand-crafted in small batches, more than 4000 cases of True North Vodka, Cherry Vodka and Wheat Vodka have sold per year. The vodkas can be found in over 900 retail outlets and 400 restaurants/bars in Michigan and is distributed in Michigan by Great Lakes Wine & Spirits.
GTD has earned multiple “Gold Medal” honors in the International Review of Spirits (2007 and 2009) and A “Gold Medal” in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2008). In the 2009 and 2010, Wine Enthusiast Magazine selected True North Vodka as one of the six best vodkas in the world.
For more information about Grand Traverse Distiller, log onto www.grandtraversedistillery.com or find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Traverse-Distillery/208013680224
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