Farm to Glass with Ethanology

“Beverage is agriculture” says co-owner Nick LeFebre

When Elk Rapids distillery Ethanology committed to locally-sourced ingredients for their products, it seemed like they’d have an uphill battle ahead. But eight years into the business, one hundred percent of the plants and honey they use still comes from within a 50-mile radius. Talk about being rooted in northern Michigan.

“Growing up in the area, there was a constant exposure to the food from our region. Whether it was picking asparagus from the ditch, stopping by a roadside farm stand for sweet cherries, fresh beans, and corn, or picking apples, I grew up understanding, intrinsically, that this is what we do in northern Michigan: we grow food,” says Nick LeFebre.

With a menu that includes bourbon, vodka, gin, cordial, and an invention of their own called Mel, Ethanology owners Nick and Geri LeFebre wanted to create a farm-based experience.

“We have every single ingredient in this area to produce remarkable spirits and can simultaneously support our neighbors and local family-owned farms. Why source ingredients from anywhere else? Why live anywhere else?”

Their Partners

All botanicals, fruits, and grains found in Ethanology’s spirits come from local sources, all within driving distance of the distillery.

“Farming is about taking what the land gives you each year. We are taking that philosophy all the way through to the final distillate,” LeFebre says.

Ingredient sourcing and selection is the first step in Ethanology’s process. Factors like proximity to the distillery, availability, processing, freshness, and uniqueness are identified before the distillers reverse-engineer a new creation.

“We ask ourselves, ‘What do we want the product to smell and taste like?’ From there, yeast strain [and] fermentation protocols are then established. What type of spirit or category would this fit into? If none, then we create a specialty product. Is the base distillate suitable for barrel maturation? If so, how long? Etc. It all starts with the raw ingredient,” LeFebre says.

Here are a few of the partners who supply those raw ingredients:

Sierra Bingham, a certified herbalist, runs Bear Earth Herbals, an herbal salve and tea company. Many of the herbs found in their products are wild-foraged or come from her farm. (What can’t be grown or foraged is often bought from other local farmers.) Bear Earth Herbals supplies Ethanology with the botanicals found in its Eros Gin. These foraged ingredients include Michigan juniper, staghorn shumac, yarrow flower, and burdock root, to name a few.

Cherry Ke Inc. in Kewadin manages over 3,000 acres of farmland across five counties. Cherry Bee Farms is part of Cherry Ke, and produces the raw honey that Ethanology uses for its signature and proprietary Mel, a honey alcohol unique to the distillery. Described as something akin to a cognac or Japanese single malt, Mel is completely unique and crafted entirely from cherry blossom honey.

“We started with a question: What should a honey-based spirit smell, taste, and look like? Nothing in the world existed like Mel. So we created a spirit that we thought needed to exist,” LeFebre says.

Shooks Farm is located in Antrim County and grows non-GMO corn and fruit used in Ethanology whiskeys, ryes, brandies, and infused spirits. Shooks Farm traces its origins back over 100 years to Vet and Tina Shooks. The farm is now entering its fourth generation, operated by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, with over 1,200 acres and crops that include cherries, corn, wheat, rye, soybeans, and wine grapes.

Valley View Farm, owned by the Boyer family since the 1970s, has experience growing ingredients for craft beverages. like barley, wheat, oats, corn, and hay. The red winter wheat serves as the base of Ethanology’s vodkas, gin, and some whiskey varietals, while the barley is used in various whiskey mashes.

There are other farms and growers that supply Ethanology with limited-release items or experimental products.

For example, the current Amarum Pirum cordial Ethanology offers contains three different lavender varietals from Lavender Hill Farm in Charlevoix, Chinook hops from Michigan Hop Alliance in Omena, fennel and quassia from an independent botanical supplier, and Bartlett pear from King Orchards in Central Lake.

“At the bottom of your glass is a farm. Beverage is agriculture. It is important to know the origins. Each product we make is derived from one farm, from one variety of grain, fruit, or honey, and harvested from one field, orchard, or apiary in a single season,” LeFebre explains.

Working with ingredients sourced locally means there can be some slight variations in batches year to year. That is, LeFebre says, “the point of making something with your bare hands.”

In addition to their local touch, Ethanology is proud to be the first distillery in Michigan and the eighth in the United States to achieve a B-Corp certification.

Certification is done through the nonprofit B Lab. Per their website, businesses that meet the criteria “are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.”

“We put in the work, opened up the entire business for scrutiny and criticism,” Nick LeFebre says.

This certification required Ethanology to change its corporate bylaws and create new considerations for stakeholders, the environment, and the community. The ultimate goal is to balance profit, purpose, and responsibility.

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