Wisconsin Craft Distiller Steams into Mid-Cap Seas
The name Porte des Morts was originally used to describe the treacherous strait on Lake Michigan between Wisconsin’s Door County Peninsula and Washington Island. But the anglicized version, Death’s Door, might be indirectly traced to the experiences of company founder and president, Brian Ellison.
No, it wasn’t that the enthusiastic craft distiller was at some foreboding portal of life, with a chilling premonition that high-proof spirits would be the only route to professional and personal survival. Rather, Ellison’s experiences with making something flourish where blight and despair once ruled truly illustrate how, under his leadership, Death’s Door Spirits has come to define the mid-cap category of domestic craft distillates.
“It all started in 2005 with five acres of wheat on Washington Island,” says Ellison. His original, more modest goals at the time were to restore farming on the island and provide breadstuffs for the local hotel. But there was little in the way of monetary “bread.” After selling a few bags of wheat to Capital Brewery, located in state capital of Madison, Ellison discovered where his wheat would ultimately thrive best: grain-based beverages. Death’s Door Spirits now has an award-winning gin — the company’s flagship — plus its longstanding vodka, and a white whiskey in its lineup.
Not long ago, Death’s Door Spirits expanded to a 25,000-square-foot facility in neighboring Middleton, with a 34-foot, 2,000-liter still, huge fermentation tanks and a 12-inch, double-reinforced concrete floor. Death’s Door now has the capability to produce 200,000 six-bottle cases. It could perhaps be the epitome of the mid-cap category in craft distilling.
“This is where the craft spirits industry needs to go,” said Ellison. “I see us as the New Belgium Brewing of distilling (referring to the Colorado microbrewery that had a similar expansion). Some might be suspicious of our getting bigger, but we’re committed to remaining consistent with our smaller, intimate origins and sourcing our ingredients deliberately.”
That last point illustrates Ellison’s knack for reclamation — or, as it was called in the economic development phase of his career: place-based assets. Despite a dismal travel route straight out of humorist P.J. O’Rourke’s “Holidays in Hell,” Ellison would identify overlooked resources in areas largely written off — from Sri Lanka, to northern Africa and Kosovo. Returning stateside, he arrived in Madison to work for Vandewalle and Associates. Brian Vandewalle, who runs the firm — and the owner of Washington Island’s Washington Hotel, wanted farming to regain a foothold there, and have wheat grown for the hotel’s baked goods.
“I was approached as, ‘hey, you’re the place-based assets guy, how can you help figure out a way for my hotel to make money?’” Ellison recalled. “So, I started working with brothers Tom and Ken Koyen, the island’s wheat farmers. When we had just so much wheat, I thought of (consumers) who buy premium products as indulgences — often because those things have a compelling story somewhere.”
Building that story — and a resonant brand with more than just a hook for a name — started with a circuitous route. The aforementioned modest amount of wheat sold to Capital Brewery became an impetus for a staple in Midwestern craft beer: Island Wheat. Still, Ellison saw distilling as the prime opportunity. He started contracting with a winery in Cedar Rapids, IA, which had a 35-gallon still. Middleton’s Capital Brewery was contracted to make mash from the wheat, and Ellison would tote 55-gallon drums of it to Cedar Rapids in/on an old station wagon that was also his personal transportation. That was the genesis of Death’s Door Vodka.
Now, the gray Volvo 850 is an heirloom that’s part of the tour at Death’s Door. Not just a curiosity by the tasting room, it’s a testament to Ellison’s dedication — and a watershed. The subsequent rollouts of Death’s Door Spirits’ gin and white whiskey meant distilling would be moved to Madison-based Yahara Bay Distillers, thus reducing mileage and the associated risk. But, contract manufacturing, while it worked early on, resulted in inefficiencies.
“When Brian wanted to increase our capacity, we looked at another contract manufacturer, but our final analysis was: Bring everything under one roof,” said Mike Reiber, director of operations for Death’s Door Distillery. “My experience (with evaluating) FDA guidelines made it plain to me that the contract manufacturing model had to be changed.”
Even with its own facility, the growth that was to be Death’s Door’s destiny needed national distribution. John Eason, vice president and national sales manager at Serrallés USA, a Puerto Rican rum producer, wanted to create a more portfolio-based company. Despite Ellison’s initial skepticism, he hadn’t met the sixth generation scion of the company, Roberto Serrallés, who serves as vice president of business development. When the meeting finally occurred, Serrallés actually turned out to be a kindred… spirit, so to speak.
“Roberto has a PhD in Environmental Studies, and my background is Landscape Architecture,” explained Ellison. “We share an ethos of sustainability and so many other commonalities.”
The strategic partnership that resulted between Serrallés and Death’s Door meant a tenfold increase in sales reps. Ellison didn’t have to spend so much time in far-flung sales territories.
“It was fantastic to have lots of boots on the ground,” Ellison says. “Serrallés is like a big brother, making sure that, as a small spirits company, we’re not pushed around by distributors.”
Goals with a national scope were implemented, such as working with Eason on regional programs and providing budgets. He is adamant about Death’s Door Spirits’ central tenets: the farming vitality of Washington Island, and the product quality.
“We’re taking a culinary approach,” Ellison says. Being environmentally responsible makes us a food-grade facility. Our spirits, of course, are something you ingest.”
Being certified as organic became realistic when the company decided to build its own facility.
“Organic certification was easy for us, because our operations are all concentrated here,” adds John Jeffery, head distiller for Death’s Door Spirits. “We wrote up the standard operating procedure. We’re creating a whole new category, setting ourselves up as the new middle space in spirits.”
