Du Nord Craft Spirits opens first metro-area cocktail room

By JILL BOOGREN

Realizing a business dream is cause for celebration. It’s even better when you’re in the business of making spirits and you get to celebrate by serving cocktails made with your booze in your own newly-licensed lounge.

So it was in January when Longfellow’s own micro-distillery, Du Nord Craft Spirits (2610 E. 32nd St.), opened their cocktail room — the first-of-its-kind in the region.

“This has been a long time coming,” said co-owner and head distiller Chris Montana, who stood with his wife and co-owner Shanelle Montana and their son, Elijah, to the crowd gathered on opening night. After thanking their team and supporters and welcoming friends and neighbors, Chris cut the ribbon.

“And with that, the Twin Cities’ first cocktail room is now open,” he declared.

People bellied up and bartenders quickly got to work pouring Steady Eddies, Moscow Mules, and other cocktails using Du Nord’s own L’Etoile du Nord Vodka and Fitzgerald Gin. The Hot Gin Toddy was a perfect antidote to the frigid temperature outdoors.

Community leaders got into the spirit.

“It’s great for the neighborhood,” said 9th Ward Council Member Alondra Cano, who was enjoying a “Fitz & Tonic” garnished with a dark cherry. She praised Chris’s attention to detail and pointed out that people can easily get there by bike.

Allison Sharkey, executive director of the Lake Street Council, said it was a great addition to the neighborhood as well as the burgeoning beverage scene happening along Lake St., which now includes LynLake Brewery, Eastlake Craft Brewery (see sidebar, pg. 4), and the upcoming Urban Forage Winery & Cider House (Longfellow Nokomis Messenger, July 2014).

It took some heavy lifting to get here. Until now, micro-distilleries — made possible thanks to reduced startup fees in the 2011 “Surly Bill” — could only sell their liquor to distributors. But unlike taprooms, popping up all over because they can sell pints of beer on premises, distilleries were confined to giving out only tiny samples of straight-up booze.

To be able to sell cocktails meant putting in some serious time at the State Capitol. Enter Shanelle who, as president of the Minnesota Distillers Guild, led legislative efforts on behalf of more than 20 distillers statewide.

“In 2014 we lobbied very hard,” she said.  They asked for three things: self-distribution, the cocktail room, and on-site bottle sales. “I felt confident that we’d get something that we wanted, but I wasn’t sure what that something was going to be.”

They got the cocktail room and will be back for bottle sales this session. This would put them in line with taprooms, who sell growlers to go, but also with other states who operate distilleries; bottle sales, Shanelle said, is the number one differential between us and them.

“We are lagging behind other states, particularly for an agricultural state,” said Shanelle. “Our industry is very tied to agriculture. We source directly from farms.” All of Du Nord’s grain is sourced locally, including from Shanelle’s parents’ farm in Cold Spring, MN.

After state approval, came city licensing, the application for which Shanelle said was “robust” but, once submitted, went very smoothly.

“This is a perfect example that government made it possible for us to do this,” Shanelle said. “We wouldn’t have hired more people (they now have five employees), we wouldn’t have expanded, we would have had to wait.”

Council Member Cano said the city is working on modernizing the code to make it easier for small businesses to get up and running.

While the Montanas are thrilled to have people come in and enjoy a cocktail, they also hope to create an educational experience. This transformation is already happening in taprooms, Shanelle explained, where people go enjoy a beer, buy a growler, and leave a bit more knowledgeable about the product. They hope for the same interaction with their customers.

“Come in, learn about our product, learn that we’re grain to glass, learn the difference between gin and vodka, and have a cocktail,” said Shanelle.

At the opening, Chris welcomed those conversations.

“That’s kind of the shop we want to run here,” he said. “You know, we want people to have a connection with us, we want you to have a connection with the booze that you’re drinking.” Those who want to see the nuts and bolts of making liquor can tour the distillery, which also happens to be visible from the bar.

Only cocktails made with Du Nord’s spirits are featured on the menu (no beer here), which means vodka and gin for now and whiskey in the future. In keeping with the taproom tradition, food trucks will get on Du Nord’s calendar — Straight from Nordeast, Stanley’s on Wheels served food at the opening. Lake St. to the north is also a hot pocket of restaurants serving a wide array of foods, including Indian, Japanese, French and Ethiopian, and the Montanas encourage people to bring in takeout and enjoy it with a cocktail.

“We want to see this district just blossom,” Chris said. Let’s raise a glass to that!

Du Nord Craft Spirits is located at 2610 E. 32nd St., between Hiawatha and Minnehaha Aves. Hours are  Wed.-Thurs., 4-10pm; Fri., 4pm-12am; Sat., 12pm-12am.