Craft Distillery And Cocktail Lounge Opens In Highwood

HIGHWOOD, IL — An Art Deco-themed craft distillery and cocktail lounge in Highwood opened its patio space last month and has begun offering five nights a week of outdoor live music, in addition to tours, snacks and drinks.

Formerly the site of a linens company, the vacant buildings at 450-454 Sheridan Road have been converted into the North Shore's newest distillery, which plans to soon have its first product — 28 Mile vodka — available at stores and bars in the Chicago area over the coming months. Currently it is available on site for $29 a bottle. The lounge also offers a house-brewed Kölsch-style microbrew that will not be available anywhere else.

"This is so cool," one first-time visitor was overheard saying.

"Swanky!" another opined.

Staff said they have already begun noticing repeat customers at the cocktail lounge, which features 11-seat bar and about two dozen seats at booths and tables offering views of the distilling operation.

28 Mile Vodka and Distillery opened up shop in June with a logo and interior design inspired by the Prohibition era. The name is a reference to the "28 Special," a well-regarded bootleg liquor that was found on the top shelf of Al Capone's bars, according to the distillery's owners.

Its logo, a woman with a bob haircut and red headband, depicts Rose Miller, a legendary underground distiller known as "The Debonair" said to have operated out of the former Moraine Hotel. Each batch number she produced started with the number 28 — thought to be a reference to the number of miles from Highwood to Chicago.

Despite the best efforts of local authorities, Miller managed to avoid detection throughout Prohibition — managing to stay ahead of police and anti-alcohol campaigners, in part because of her membership in the Evanston-based Women's Christian Temperance Union.

According to the distillery's owners, Miller's clandestine career was discovered only through an estate sale in Highwood nearly six decades after her death in the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. When her family learned of the plans for the 28 Mile distillery, they donated a copy of Miller's/The Debonair's ledger, which hangs on the wall in the cocktail lounge.

The new distillery is the brainchild of brothers Eric and Gregg Falberg, natives of Westchester, New York, who operate a propane business together. They purchased two vacant buildings on Sheridan and demolished one of them to make room for the courtyard area. Their master distiller and head brewer is Matt Greif.

"It's been a fun ride," Eric said, looking out on the crowded outdoor patio on its opening weekend last month. "You look out and people are out there being fully entertained and having somewhere to go they were never able to go before unless they went down to Chicago."

Eric Falberg, a Highwood aldermen for the past 10 years and president of the local nonprofit Celebrate Highwood, said he was very pleased to be able to open the distillery by its target of this summer. He said his brother took some convincing before he was willing to dive headfirst into the liquor business.

But after the first batches of the distillery's vodka dominated blind taste tests against top-shelf, high-priced brands, Gregg was convinced — and he's already begun considering an expansion.

"We wanted to really create that atmosphere that was just fun, easygoing, really represented our product," Eric said. "You feel like you take a step up but you don't have to pay for it. Just enjoyable. Just fun."

While vodka is flagship product for the distillery, the distillery was built with three column stills in order to allow for the production of whiskey and gin as well. A first batch of whiskey is set to be barreled this month.

Unusually, the vodka is distilled from entirely malted grains, the Falbergs said, giving it a distinctive flavor suitable for drinking straight or adding richness to cocktails. The mineral content of Highwood's drinking water is another factor in its unique taste.

"We stumbled onto this Prohibition-era recipe, switched up the details a little bit and adjusted the specifics," Greg Falberg explains.

Highwood, formerly known as "Whiskey Junction" and the only "wet" town between Evanston and Kenosha, has long been a hub for drinking establishments, but 28 Mile offers a different vibe — a combination of neighborhood hangout and high-end establishment more associated with Chicago's River North or West Loop neighborhoods than the north suburbs.

"It has that old city-type feel, that community feel," Eric Falberg said. "You instantly feel welcomed when you walk in the door. That's what we wanted."

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