OUR STORY

The story of Northern Latitudes Distillery began as many good stories begin.  Over cocktails with friends…

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In the fall of 2008 we (Mandy and Mark Moseler) were at friends’ house, having dinner and cocktails, when the conversation led to the fact that the State of Michigan had banned the baiting of deer.  Mark wondered aloud, “What were people doing with all those unused sugar beets, and was there something that could be made from them?”  The group decided because it was sugar, maybe rum could be made from the sugar beets.  Some research was in order…

Both of us were public school teachers, so research came naturally to us. The research we conducted, led us to the fact that the State of Michigan had passed P.A. 218 in the spring of 2008.  This law allowed small distilleries to operate in the state.  We also found that Michigan State University was offering a 3-day course on distilling, opening and operating a distillery.  Mark immediately signed up for the course in the spring of 2009.

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Fast forward three years. We decided to make Lake Leelanau home for our family and business.  The community could not have been more supportive of our dream.  Retrofitting of the building began in March, 2012, and Northern Latitudes Distillery’s German-made still arrived in late August, 2012. The doors were opened for sales of our spirits on October 4, 2012. Now entering the 8th year of business, and surrounded by a dedicated, professional and tireless staff, the dream that we had has become a reality!

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There are many great joys in the business, but one we both treasure is when customers come in and say, “We were here the first year you opened, and we come back every year to see you.”  It is this support from our customers, community, employees, friends and family that make us so proud of where Northern Latitudes Distillery is today.