by Amelia Levin

Brian Ellison stands behind a counter at LUSH Wine & Spirits in Roscoe Village, a wide grin on his face as he pours bacon-infused vodka for guests who have stopped by to learn about this mysterious “Death’s Door” brand from little-known Washington Island, at the tip of Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula. Perhaps the grin is from knowing how sinfully good the stuff tastes, or anticipation that his guests will realize the same as soon as they try it. Or maybe it’s from the “wow” reactions he’s heard before.

Bacon wasn’t the only infusion that night—there were vodkas infused with cucumber, pineapple and other fruits and some other interesting flavors, but a crowd favorite, aside from the smoky bacon, was most certainly just the plain, Death’s Door vodka, a wheat-based spirit served crisp and cold that lends itself to unique, aromatic notes with a sweeter than- Russian-potato-vodka aftertaste.

That was two years ago, in 2007, when Death’s Door vodka came out. Just prior to that, Ellison, a Madison, Wisconsin based land planner, had already gotten his feet wet in the distilling business while working with Capital Brewery to produce Island Wheat Ale, using wheat produced on that state’s isolated Washington Island. But he had wanted to do more with the grain. One idea popped in his head: make vodka.

Now, Death’s Door, once a one-product- only brand has launched a super-floral gin as well as a smooth and slightly sweet, white whiskey, all using wheat from the island. The company went from being a very small, regional spirit line with a strangely cult-like following, as Ellison described it, to a national brand that’s shipped around the country, educating spirits enthusiasts as far away as California about the organic, sustainable wheat that’s grown on the tip of that little ol’ Midwestern peninsula.

He eventually left his job as a land planner, becoming a jack of all trades: president, distiller, marketer, publicist, and, of course, product developer and taster. Death’s Door has 60 accounts in Chicago, with high-end restaurants like North Pond, Avec,West Town Tavern, and many others.

So where does this curious name “Death’s Door” come from? Bottled in a glass with a picture of a ship on the front, the spirits are named after the strait that passes between the Door County peninsula and Washington Island, where the waters of Green Bay clash with Lake Michigan. For many sailors in years past, maneuvering across the often-treacherous passage to reach the Wisconsin mainland was almost like, well, knocking on Death’s Door.

Ellison’s foray into the world of distilled spirits came about while working at Vandewalle & Associates, a land planning firm in Madison, from2003 until 2008. Ellison worked closely with owner Brian Vandewalle at The Washington Hotel, a charming inn and culinary school on the island run by head chef, Leah Caplan. Travelers from all over the country would venture to the hotel, just to taste Caplan’s home-cooked meals, particularly her homemade breads, biscuits and pizzas with dough made from wheat grown on the island.

Ellison was inspired by the concept of expanding the local wheat market’s product line. “Washington Island hadn’t had any commercial agriculture since the 1970s,” he says. Caplan and her team, “wanted to figure out what other products they could make with the wheat they had.” Since he always had an interest in distilling, he suggested making a beer from the wheat and worked with Capital Brewery while still keeping his day job. The beer, he says, “became very successful.”

Finding a use for the natural wheat that grows on Washington Island opened the gateway for local farmers to participate competitively in commercial agriculture, a benefit not only for them and their families, but also for the entire economy of the region. The two primary growers, brothers Tom and Ken Koyen, are lifelong Washington Islanders whose ancestors arrived in the 1850s. As a result of the expansion of just Capital Brewery Island Wheat Ale alone, their harvest grew to more than half a million pounds of wheat, all herbicide and pesticide-free, spanning 800 acres.

There was still more wheat to be harvested. “I suggested, well, ‘why don’t we try distilling it to make spirits like vodka?’” Ellison says. That spirit comes full circle: using existing resources to develop products, which keep a rural community thriving—Ellison is a true land planner at heart. “Our mission first and foremost was to keep the opportunities and economics coming back to Washington Island.”

A boyish man with light brown hair and a quick smile, Ellison explains he grew up on a farm in McHenry County, “bailing hay and cleaning barns,” and discovered a personal connection to the land and the farmers. With his new passion for distilling, he became a sponge, and soaked up information.He began traveling the country, visiting as many conferences on distilling as he could, even taking classes in the art at Michigan State University. “I didn’t have a background in that industry at all, so it’s been an interesting learning curve. I think that we’ve been able to make a great product with a great story and it happens to be distilled.”

During one of his travels, he befriended a distiller, Jeff Quint, of Cedar Ridge Vineyards, Winery & Distillery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who agreed to allow Ellison to start making the product with them, rather than opening his own distillery, a costly and complicated endeavor for a startup brand.

Ellison went back to Caplan, who developed the flavor profiles for the spirits. The first round of Death’s Door vodka came out in January of 2007, just before Ellison had shown up that night in Chicago to promote the tasty drinks. Death’s Door gin, known for its fragrant, juniper berry smell and taste, came out a few months later in June.

“Then, in November 2008, we started experimenting with making whiskey batches, putting them in barrels to age, and one of our distributors tried the product after just a few days, and said, ‘This stuff is beautiful. You should sell it as is.’ I said, ‘That’s ridiculous,’ but sooner than I knew it, we were producing a white whiskey as opposed to an aged one. We made a short batch of it and it sold out immediately.” Wheat is a less common grain used in whiskeys, compared to the more traditional use of rye, barley and corn.

“The wheat flavor is sweeter compared to barley and rye whiskey, and traditionally, whiskey taste has not been toward that sweeter style, but as whiskey becomes more prevalent, it allows for variations and expansions of that style,” Ellison says. That, and it’s sustainable, certainly an intriguing characteristic of the Death’s Door products. Since November 2008 the wheat crop on Washington Island was certified as organic, although the wheat has been grown for centuries without the use of herbicides and pesticides. Now Ellison is working on getting certification for the spirits themselves.

Ellison certainly is a supporter of local agriculture, obviously, through his work with Washington Island farmers. So, why then the decision to truck the product to bicoastal states? “That’s theCatch-22,” he says. “It’s one of those funny things, I envisioned Death’s Door to become a small regional brand around the Great Lakes that wouldn’t reach much further, but we’re getting a lot of attention for what we’re doing. People in San Francisco want to buy exceptional products from small distillers, and they don’t necessarily worry that it comes all the way from Wisconsin. It was a challenge for us because I can’t see myself sitting across the table from the farmer and saying, ‘Well, we could have sold cases in California, but we didn’t because it’s not local.’”

Incorporating a sustainable crop into an artisan product while supporting a centuries old way of life on a tiny island in Lake Michigan is a triumph for someone who made a living drawing up plans for the best use of land.We’ll drink to that.

REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT

Aside from supporting small farms and growing organic crops, Death’s Door has also looked into reducing waste associated with packaging and distribution. Surprisingly, Ellison explains, plastic is more easily recycled than glass. “We looked into plastic bottles, but it’s difficult for people to overcome that feeling that plastic means lower quality,” he says.

Instead, he’s encouraged his accounts to order in bulk, which makes the use of plastic appropriate at that point. Mike and Helen Cameron, owners of Uncommon Ground, a sustainable eatery known for showcasing craft beers, many local, and other artisan spirits, took up an interest in Death’s Door as the base for their homemade vodka infusions. “At first we weren’t able to meet the price but when we talked further, I asked what he was using all the vodka for,” Ellison says. The response? “Well we dump them into our infusion jars.” So, Ellison says, “we agreed we would produce 1.75 liter bottles in plastic, which we could source from an area just south of Rockford because this will allow them to not use as much labor. Instead, they’ll only empty a few big bottles versus many little ones.” On top of that, Ellison uses reusable milk crates rather than cardboard boxes to distribute the goods. The result was not only a cost savings for both parties, but also a reduction of as much as 3,500 pounds of waste a year.

Amelia Levin, chef/writer/editor, always has many irons in the fire. she recently earned an “Honorable Mention” from the prestigious Greenbrier symposium for her previous work in Edible Chicago. Cheers, Amelia!