Death's Door Distillery creates cocktails from local produce

It takes thirteen minutes to walk to the bus stop at UW Health and Middleton; one hour and eight minutes on bus 70 to West Johnson  and about three minutes to walk back to my apartment. Driving was simply not an option I realized, shielding my eyes from the receding sun, slowly exiting FairShare’s Farm Fresh Mixology Class.

Every second Thursday, May through October, FairShare CSA Coalition sponsors a “Farm to Bar Experience” at Death’s Door Distillery in Middleton, WI.  For $20, Madison-area residents spend an hour with local mixologists learning how to make cocktails using produce from FairShare Farms.

FairShare CSA Coalition’s mission is to connect growers and eaters. Through events such as the Farm Fresh Mixology series, they are able to highlight seasonal produce from local FairShare Coalition CSA farms, and provide new ways for the farms to connect with consumers.

Death’s Door Spirits hosts these classes as a fundraiser for FairShare.

Death’s Door is a local, craft distillery that supports local, sustainable agriculture and uses local wheat and juniper in their products. Death's Door cocktails made with local produce.

The distillery receives all of its specialty grains from brothers Tom and Ken Koyen, wheat farmers from Washington Island, Wis. Since 2005, Death’s Door has supported local and sustainable agriculture on Washington Island simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint by sourcing local products.

On June 13th, a professional bartender from Death’s Door manipulated fresh basil and strawberries into several cocktails from FairShare’s cookbook, Farm-Fresh and Fast. Several lessons and a muddling induced injury later the group was led on a tour of Death’s Door Distillery’s environmentally friendly facilities.

According to Erika Jones, project manager for FairShare, 15-25 participants attend each course. The attendees at the June class varied: middle-aged couples out with friends, recent graduates, an undergraduate reporter and a trio of UW-Madison creative writing professors wanting to check my drivers’ license. 

Gurgling conversation bubbled over the drone of industrial sized silos and the berating blades of Kentucky’s Big Ass Fans beating the air into a tumultuous mixture of barley and fermenting alcohol. Spirits were high and also blended into locally grown concoctions, a wonderful end to a great evening organically making friends. 

For recipes and more information on the Farm Fresh Mixology and its next FairShare partner, visit www.csacoalition.org.