How the Spirits Moved Brian Cummins of Great Northern Distilling
Brian Cummins at the construction site photo credit Ryan Wanta
In Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Brian Cummins nearly bounds across a tiny parking lot beside The Main Grain Bakery to show me the Great Northern Distilling building, under construction. Scheduled to open by early 2023, the new facility will also feature a dog-friendly patio, a 29-seat tasting room bar, and event space.
Previously a chemical engineer in Wisconsin’s paper industry, Cummins says the idea for Great Northern Distilling came from a friend. “Back in 2012, when I was in Minneapolis at a bar enjoying handmade craft cocktails with friends, one of them had read an article about small batch craft distilling. He mentioned what a cool thing it would be to do, and we started looking at what it would take.”
Today that friend (along with several other friends and family) is an investor in the business, which opened during 2013. “I am the hood ornament,” Cummins comments with a grin. Although he had a lot to learn about distilling, Cummins says his previous line of work made the learning curve easier. “As an engineer they train you to think you can figure anything out. The distillation process is just a very simple old-school unit operation. It’s simple chemistry. I knew the technical end of the process.”
He adds, “During my time in the paper industry, I was also the bridge between production and end users. I spent a lot of time as a product manager, including catalogue and magazine customers. [With Great Northern Distilling] I combine marketing with the technical side, and a good culinary palate, as I’ve always enjoyed cooking.”
While traveling for the paper mill Cummins visited small batch craft distillers in the area, too. “I got some advice, early on, from Wisconsin’s first craft distiller, Guy Rehorst – he started Great Lakes Distillery in 2004. I went on a tour there and at a lot of other places. I also talked to a lot of fellow craft distillers.” Today he is a member of the Central Wisconsin Craft Collective and the Wisconsin Distillers Guild,
Local Ingredients in the Product Portfolio
Great Northern Distilling product lineup photo credit Thousand Lumens Visual Marketing
Great Northern Distilling crafts Potato Vodka, Herbalist Gin, Vanguard Whiskey, Opportunity Rum, Rye Whiskey and Coffee Liqueur using as many Wisconsin ingredients as possible (except for malt).
For grain-free Potato Vodka, fresh potatoes are grown 2 ½ miles from the distillery. Corn, wheat, and rye in most of the company’s remaining products come from family-owned Northern Tier Farm, in northern Wisconsin.
“We also make a limited batch of brandy every year from a semi-sweet white wine that Sunset Point Winery makes for us,” Cummins says. “We distill and age it for almost three years. In our new location they will be right across the street.” Great Northern Distilling’s bottled products are available throughout Wisconsin and the company contract distills for Northern Oasis Spirits through a distribution deal with General Beverage Co.
Still production photo courtesy of Great Northern Distilling
Up till now doing everything by hand has been core to the business. A hand-operated machine can fill four bottles, simultaneously, which yields approximately 250 bottles per hour. The Stevens Point operations will use the current production processes at start up, with space for later expansion and an automated bottling line.
Growth and Expansion Plans
Cummins and his investors closed the company’s bar in their original Plover location, when their landlord developed alternate plans for the property. But they continue to distill and bottle spirits, and craft whiskey and gin, offering curbside pickup for spirits, bottled cocktails, and signature retail items.
Great Northern Distillery cocktail pour photo courtesy of Jake Anderson Photography
“In Plover, I’ve always had several other people working with me,” Cummins said, “Two part-time staff, when we started, expanded to 13 with our bar—before COVID. We’ll probably have more employees than that in Stevens Point. It will be bigger and be open more hours, including events.”
When the new building opens, Cummins will also continue working closely with The Main Grain Bakery. “We worked together quite a bit in the past. They have used our products in a variety of their baked goods, and they have come to us to do special events. What we like about them is they have a lot of the same values as we do, about supporting the local community and using local ingredients,” Cummins shares.
He adds “Since we started, they’ve used our spirits as an ingredient in their sweet baked goods. Our Vanguard Whiskey is used in an ‘old fashioned’ flavored cake and they’ve also used our coffee liqueur and spiced rum in various recipes. With our move across the street from them I hope we can work together more often. We didn’t serve food in our previous location, so I’ve asked for their help in developing our menu. Specifically, we’ll be serving their soft pretzels with a house made fondue; they’ve developed a flatbread crust for us that we’ll dress with seasonal local ingredients; and they are making herb crackers for our charcuterie trays. I also hope we can develop a bread using our spent mash since we’ll be so close to each other.”
Within a couple years at the new site, Cummins hopes Great Northern Distilling will be hosting many more tours. He also hopes to welcome more travelers who are visiting central Wisconsin or traveling to the north woods.
“We have people living and working downtown and enjoying the nightlife,” Cummins says, “and we’ll have a lot more onsite events with concerts, and other special nights such as trivia. We’d really like to partner with more of our neighbors in our new location, too, and start doing a winter carnival with an outdoor component.”