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Grand Traverse Distillery

Pioneers in Jumpstarting Michigan’s Craft Spirit Industry


In Traverse City you can stumble upon a building on the outskirts of town that hosts a custom built Arnold Holstein still from Germany. For the past decade that still has been utilized to produce the region's premiere spirits from grain to bottle, spirits that have received international acclaim and awards.

 


When Distillery owner Kent Rabish was merely a boy he and his siblings uncovered a still hidden in the back of the barn on the family farm. Turns out, Grandfather George Rabish was a man who wasted not, as excess grain and corn from the fields found a use in one way or another.

Kent was a pioneer in jumpstarting Michigan’s craft spirit industry, resurrecting the legal micro-distillery for the first time since prohibition. In the early 2000’s Kent revisited his familial tradition with the forming of Grand Traverse Distillery, and in 2007 had products on the market. 

Since the opening. the concept has always been the same: create an exceptional locally-sourced spirit and waste not. While some may cut corners, and some sacrifice integrities for margins, Kent has stood firm as a proponent for true craft distilling, down to the grain. His distillers make cuts by taste and not by automation, and the empty barrels when they're perfect and not on a schedule. Every bottle is inspected and capped by hand, and all of that results in a truly handcrafted spirit. ​

Over a decade later Grand Traverse Distillery continues to produce top-tier spirits from grains grown down the road. His son Landis has risen through the ranks to Head Distiller and the father and son maintain a talented and lean team of distillery professionals.

 

The spirits that come out of Grand Traverse Distillery are truly handcrafted.