Meet Jay and Noelle DiPrizio of Chicago Distilling Company in Logan Square

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay and Noelle DiPrizio.

They began distilling 4 years ago and opened their tasting room to the public January of 2013. They chose to open their family business in Logan Square because that is where they have spent the last 15 years and love the idea of walking to work every day. The 3 partners are brothers Jay and Vic and Jay’s wife Noelle. Jay was inspired to begin a family business distilling spirits by moonshining relatives of Noelle’s in the Northwoods of WI. In lieu of hunting, Jay observed the family tinkering with old stills passed down from Grandfather’s and Uncles to the younger generations. After raising a modest amount of money from friends and family and a couple years of experimenting in the garage, they found their space on a changing block of their neighborhood and went to work.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We did not have any experience in the beverage industry so we definitely had a big learning curve. Jay has a sales background which helps greatly with the distribution side. Noelle ran her own interior design business for 8 years so her experience has helped with the day to day book keeping. Jay’s brother Vic left his career in benefits management to manage the daily production. Together we all make a great team but it has been a lot of trial by error and learning as you go.

Chicago Distilling Company – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We produce a variety of spirits and just began canning cocktails that have been favorites of guests in our tasting room. We make Ceres Vodka and Finn’s Gin from 100% Illinois corn. Ceres is named for the Goddess of Grain whose statue sits atop the Board of Trade and Finn’s is named after our 6-year-old son. We also have a Bourbon and a Rye that are both called Blind Tiger to pay homage to the days of prohibition. Our American Single Malt Whiskey’s are very unique and inspired by beer styles. We take the mash bills for popular beer styles like Stout and turn it into whiskey by tweeting the recipes and aging in new oak barrels. We currently have 4 in production. Lastly, we have a traditional absinthe called Lanfray’s Trigger which was a fun pet project of Noelle.

We can a Chicago Mule and a Gin & Tonic as well as seasonal releases that first of which was a Blind Tiger Old Fashioned High Ball. We are one of the first and only distilleries to produce and can cocktails all in house.

In our tasting room we can only serve the spirits we make and we focus on classic cocktails. We also offer tours to the public on the days we are open.

We are very proud of how far we have some in 4 short years. We enjoy being a small craft distillery because it allows us to be agile and adapt to change quickly. It also allows us to experiment and be innovate without too much risk which is the most fun.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We define success in both traditional and non-traditional ways. We of course set goals for our distribution partners and markets we want to enter into. For instance, we challenged our IL distributor to double the cases sold this past year which they are on the path to do. We also wanted to place our spirits in some key accounts and retailers and are happy to say we are meeting those goals.

We also have the tasting room which is a bar in a busy Chicago neighborhood. This is not an easy industry to stay relevant and successful in especially when there are new concepts opening frequently. It’s also an industry with a lot of turnover and we are proud to have great employees who have been with us since the day we opened. We very much want everyone to feel the success we feel on a daily basis and share it with us.

Our top account in Chicago is a very talented and successful restaurant group called Boka Restaurant Group. We feel a great amount of pride every time we walk in to their spaces and see a cocktail with one of our spirits on the menu.

Pricing:

• Cocktails $7-10
• Spirits to go $30-$50
• Canned Cocktails $5-$20
• Tours – $10
• Tasting Flights $2.50-$16

Contact Info:

• Address: 2359 N. Milwaukee Ave.,
  Chicago, IL 60647
• Website: www.chicagodistilling.com
• Phone: 872-206-2774
• Email: drink@chicagodistilling.com
• Instagram: @chicagodistilling
• Facebook: @chicagodistilling
• Twitter: @chidistilling

Image Credit:
Kevin J. Miyazaki

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