GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) — This week on the Beer Beat, we’re learning about hard alcohol at Long Road Distillery.
In the video above, Pat Evans of the Grand Rapids Business Journal and Grand Rapids Magazine takes us to the distillery to explain why that sector is becoming more popular.
Check out Pat’s writing in the Grand Rapids Business Journal and Grand Rapids Magazine.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (WOOD) – Grand Rapids first every distillery, Long Road Distillers, visited in studio to mix up a few cocktails with unexpected combinations, like pink peppercorns and lemon! Longtime friends Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor are self proclaimed “neighborhood boys” who love West Michigan and have done a lot of work in the community. They always wanted to start a business and decided it was time for Grand Rapids to have a distillery. What makes Long Road special? Everything they serve has been hand crafted by them for you! Fresh squeezed juice, small batch ginger beers, everything made by starting with the raw ingredient. All the grains they use for the liquors are sourced within 30 miles of Grand Rapids, it doesn’t get much more local than that!
Besides tasty liquors, Long Road has awesome food! Kyle and Jon explain that, “You’ll come for the drinks and stay for the food. But the food will keep you coming back!” The menu is small and concise, but filled with yummy and unique dishes with local ingredients. Everything from munchies like deviled eggs and shrimp cocktail to heavier plates like kielbasa and large salads. They whip up a few menu favorites for Rachael and show off a very cool gift idea. Their “bathtub gin kit” is a great cocktail box with a Prohibition theme. It includes a botanical kit to infuse the Long Road vodka, instructions, and everything you need to mix up your own Prohibition vodka. All proceeds go to the Grand Rapids Public Musesum. Find out everything about Long Road Distillers by clicking here!
Looking for New Year’s Eve plans? Celebrate the New Year in The Rickhouse at Long Road Distillers!
Cocktails, food, music and a one-of-a-kind ball drop are all included with your $25 ticket!
Join Long Road for :
And, before you head upstairs at 10 p.m., join them downstairs for Shrimp Cocktails (4/$10) with a house Cocktail Sauce made with our horseradish infused vodka, and vynil tunes spun by Dan Climie and Benjamin Davey!
Grand Rapids, MI – In only its first year of production, Long Road Distillers was named “Michigan Vodka Distillery of the Year” at the New York International Spirits Competition. The famed competition, now in its sixth year, judges nearly 500 world-class spirits each year. Submissions were made from over 35 countries, which were tasted and evaluated by an accomplished panel of judges.
In an industry crowded with international corporations and non-distiller producers, Long Road Distillers is setting a new standard for how spirits are produced—not only for Michigan, but also for the region as a whole. Each spirit in their growing lineup is sourced as locally as possible, milled from whole grain, and fermented on-site—never being treated with carbon or charcoal filtration techniques to maintain a smooth finish and full body.
“This is obviously an exciting achievement for us in our very first year,” commented Kyle Van Strien, Long Road Co-Founder. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the growing craft distilling movement in Michigan and around the country, and we’re humbled to receive this honor, particularly in a very challenging competition often dominated by much larger brands.”
Long Road Distillers was also awarded a bronze medal for Long Road Vodka, a classic spirit boasting surprising hints of vanilla, caramel, toffee, and biscuit. “Long Road is fortunate to have access to the rich agricultural resources of West Michigan which serve as the foundation of all of our spirits, said Jon O’Connor, Long Road’s other Co-Founder.” This medal and the individual award reinforce our commitment to crafting world-class spirits in an honest and transparent manner. We look forward to building upon this initial recognition in the years to come as we expand our spirit offerings.”
The New York International Spirits Competition was founded in 2010 and takes place annually in New York City. The panel consists of trade-only judges, comprised of retail buyers, restaurant and bar owners, beverage directors, distributors and importers. Together, they evaluate entries received from around the globe. The full results can be read at nyispiritscompetition.com.
About Long Road Distillers
Long Road Distillers was born from the belief that making world-class spirits means never taking shortcuts along the way. After becoming the first craft distillery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Long Road Distillers formed relationships with local farmers to bring that mission to Grand Rapids’ West Side neighborhood. Each spirit produced at Long Road Distillery is milled from locally sourced ingredients and fermented on-site. The result is an uncompromised lineup of spirits – including Vodka, Gin, and White Whisky – a handcrafted collection of cocktails, and a wide variety of food options.
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Cocktail Week – Grand Rapids starts on November 11 and runs through November 22.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The first ever Cocktail Week in Grand Rapids begins on Wednesday.
Experience GR said 29 area restaurants are participating in Cocktail Week GR and serving up signature Michigan-made cocktails.
Participating local restaurants will offer two Michigan cocktails and a shared-plate appetizer for $25 or less, as well as menu items paired with Michigan-distilled spirits.
Cocktail Week runs from Nov. 11-22.
Cocktail Week GR is similar to Restaurant Week, however it’s centered around the drinks. It also coincides with with the annual Wine, Beer and Food Festival at the DeVos Place Convention Center happening Nov. 19-22.
24 Hour News 8’s Tom HIllen spoke with the owner and the general manager of Long Road Distillery in Grand Rapids — one of the businesses participating in Cocktail Week.
There is an added sense of connectivity when we frequent the places that reside within a few miles of our home. When a business puts down roots in the neighborhood where owners and workers and goers live, a deeper sense of community grows. Long Road Distillers, located in Grand Rapids West Side, is more than the city’s first distillery, it a place where people commune together over unique, handcrafted cocktails. Owners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor call the West Side Grand Rapids neighborhood home; the elbows of guests lean on the dark wooden tables in the dining space, wearing them down with story; the bartenders behind the bar craft a unique drink of homegrown flavor. It is as much about the spirits being consumed as the souls in the room.
Long Road honors the journey, respects the craft, and takes no shortcuts. Their story encompasses the local community. At Long Road their ingredients come from Michigan, from the places they know and places that resemble home. Whether it be wheat, corn, rye, fruit, or cider it has a Michigan label. They are, as Van Strien shared “highlighting what we have available.” Long Road is an in-house distillery, making everything on location. They are perfecting the art of draft cocktails, stepping out, doing new things, and embracing the long road.
We are delighted to have Long Road Distillers joining us at Fork Fest this week Thursday, October 22. They will be on site with their draft Gin and Tonic, as well as Teta’s Lemonade (vodka, lemon, lavender syrup, rose water). Stop by their bar and give one of these a try!
Interested in learning more about Long Road? Sign up to take one of their tours. Or stop by for a midweek dinner and drink. They are open seven days a week and house a delicious food menu. They also recently expanded their upstairs space which can be rented out for private events, wedding receptions, and corporate events. Find out more at longroaddistillers.com.
Local First of West Michigan, Mallory Huizenga
A local distillery has launched its Michigan distribution.
Long Road Distillers in Grand Rapids launched two of its spirits into statewide distribution this month.
The distillery’s gin and vodka are now available to all restaurants, bars and retailers in Michigan.
The distillery opened in May, and distribution is coming right about when co-owners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor expected in their timeline.
“We wanted to make sure we could meet demand here and work out our kinks,” O’Connor said. “A lot of times, distillers go into distribution and can’t satisfy demand. They get an initial launch and can’t provide more.”
Van Strien said one of the most common questions from a restaurant group is, “If we run a featured cocktail at our three locations, will we run out?”
Now, Van Strien said that assurance is possible and within the first week, The Winchester in Grand Rapids had a cocktail menu featuring spirits by Long Road Distillers.
Van Strien added that several other local businesses will carry its products: Donkey; Siciliano’s Market; Rishi’s International Beverage; and Essence Restaurant Group.
“To see some of the places we respect so much have our products . . . it’s a lot of fun,” Van Strien said.
O’Connor said they welcome restaurant and bars to bring in owners, managers and staff to show them the manufacturing process.
“We encourage other folks to reach out,” O’Connor said. “We love to host potential partners. We want to educate people on what makes our products different and what’s unique about it. The more people we talk through the process, the better.”
A local distillery has opened up an addition.
Long Road Distillers just opened its upstairs, The Rickhouse at Long Road, at 537 Leonard St. NW.
Event space
The space holds 160 people and is available for special events and general overflow on the weekends.
The space rents for $100 an hour for a three-hour minimum and a $500 food-and-drink minimum on weekends. The weekday rate is considerably cheaper, said Kyle Van Strien, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.
“We want people to use it, but we do anticipate to raise it as we see demand,” Van Strien said.
Cocktail classes
Long Road Distillers will use the space to host its first cocktail class next Tuesday.
The class is the first of many events Long Road expects to host in the space.
Cocktail classes will be an ongoing series for the distillery, said Jon O’Connor, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.
“There’s a heightened awareness in the country about cocktails, and it’s just starting to make its way to Grand Rapids,” O’Connor said. “We’re hoping to be a part of that transformation.”
While the first class will be a general overview of the history of distillation and cocktails, future classes will have a specific focus on different cocktails.
The class on Tuesday will be hands-on, as students will taste every aspect of the cocktails, from simple syrup and sugar to bitters and the spirits.
“This class will be history and structure, techniques,” Van Strien said. “We use many methods to craft cocktails and how to make better drinks at home. It will also require lots of tasting.”
Grand Rapids Business Journal, Pat Evans
During the prohibition era, people used to distill their own liquor in their bathtubs.
Long Road Distillery, the recently opened craft distillery on Grand Rapids’ West Side, is offering an unusual way to remember that slice of American history.
In conjunction with the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s opening of the exhibit “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” the distillery will release a “bathtub gin kit” featuring a bottle of Long Road vodka, botanicals for infusing, straining cloth, funnel, instruction card and commemorative bottle with specially designed label.
“Bathtub gin” was a phrase used in reference to any inexpensive, homemade liquor, not just gin.
Of course, distilling liquor at home is still illegal. Long Road features the first four legal stills ever in the city of Grand Rapids. The kit is designed to enhance the flavor of the vodka, the kit is also in the spirit – pun intended – of the 1920s era, when Americans used ingenuity to make their own alcoholic beverages, a trait in common with modern craft distilleries and breweries.
The kit is priced at $49.99 and for sale at the distillery, 537 Leonard St. NW, with $5 from each kit sold donated to the museum to support the exhibit.
“It’s a simple botanical blend included with the kit,” said Long Road co-owner Kyle Van Strien. “It’s not just going to cover up the flavor, because I think our vodka is exceptional. But it will enhance it, make it different and unique.”
The National Constitution Center’s exhibit, which opens Sept. 26, 2015 and runs through Jan. 17, 2016, will cover the temperance movement, the Roaring ’20s and the repeal of the constitutional amendment banning alcoholic beverages. More than 100 artifacts will be featured, including flapper dresses, prohibition propaganda, Al Capone’s guilty verdict and, of course, home equipment used to brew illegal beer and moonshine.
Related: Look back: Grand Rapids embraced both sides of Prohibition
Van Strien said the idea for the tie-in came when he attended a museum fundraiser for the exhibit, and inquired whether Long Road would feature the city’s first legal still. He and Long Road partner Jon O’Connor considered making a special sugar shine or corn whiskey in conjunction with the exhibit, similar to how Founders Brewing Co. created Furniture City Stock Ale for a museum beer exhibit in 2012. But they struggled to come up with a good, unique liquor, and faced time restraints in getting legal approval for a new formula and label.
So they decided to make the product interactive, and reusable. Van Strien said different botanical blends will be sold at the distillery, adding that people could go to the spice shop and use the kit to experiment with their own flavors.
“Honestly, it was easier for us to use an existing product, then have people do the alterations at home,” Van Strien said. “It’s a fun way to commemorate the period and it’s period-specific.”
Long Road opened in June 2015 and offers vodka, gin, whisky, apple brandy and more, made on-site. The distillery offers tours, cocktails and a farm-to-table food menu.
John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jserba@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum announced a collaboration on Thursday with a local distillery for a new exhibit that explores Prohibition.
“American Spirits: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition” opens on September 26.
Long Road Distillers, on the city’s west side, has created a “bathtub gin” kit to commemorate the exhibit. It includes everything you need to infuse your own gin at home, and comes with a special prohibition-labeled bottle.
You can pick up the kit at Long Road Distillers. Doors there opened June; it’s the first craft distillery in the history of the City of Grand Rapids.
– WZZM 13, September 3, 2015, Link to page here.
