45th Parallel Distillery is a bit of a gem. They've been around since 2007, though admittedly, I had never heard of them. They opened their restaurant in this location in 2020, which was bad timing due to Covid, but according to the owners, they do everything slow so the timing may not have bothered them. By doing things slow in distilling, you are respecting the process and not taking short-cuts. Hopefully, this produces a superior product. Aging takes time and their entire process is respecting time. Like I've stated many times, distilled spirits have not been my poison of choice, but with many good distilleries popping up, I'm starting to enjoy it more. Still, it might be worth trying out spirits done with different styles and times of maturation to see the taste difference.
We had actually gone over this way to check out the Lift Bridge Brewery, which is next door, but we wanted food and Lift Bridge didn't offer any. It said on their website you could order from 45th and eat it at their location, but when we got there we found out that was for their Stillwater location. So, we had a beer and then went next door to 45th Parallel. After a small wait to get in, I had one of my now famous encounters with someone because I was wearing one of the brewery t-shirts I frequently purchase. I had a guy come up to me from Savannah, GA who saw me wearing a Service Brewing shirt and he told his wife he had to say something because he didn't expect to run into someone in Wisconsin who had been to his favorite brewery back home. It was pretty cool. I also had a few chats with employees to find out more about the distillery, which was nice as well.
Their facility is top notch and has an event center for weddings and large functions. With large glass garage doors on either end of the building, it opens up for perfect summer days like we had the day we were there. The two ends of the building are similar, but the area for parties is bigger. The area for the cocktail lounge and restaurant had a large circular bar in the middle with seating all the way around. The wood fired oven and kitchen off to one side, there was a small amount of indoor seating with quite a bit of outdoor area. There is also a gift shop up front with clothing, hats, glassware and spirits for sale. i personally liked the whole set up and there are a couple of other building where they make the spirits. They use a local farmer for their grain and after mashing and fermenting, the grain is then sent to another local farm to be used as feed and the end result is sent back to the first farm as fertilizer. Simpatico.
They have a selection of appetizers and then wood-fired pizza on their menu. We grabbed a large pretzel and had one of their pies. The pizza was, perhaps, the best pizza I've had in the area. It was a little small for two of us, but delicious. The crust was perfect and the sauce and ingredients were fresh and tasty. I also decided to try one of their signature drinks and went with the Dark Knight off their whiskey menu. It had bonded bourbon with a stout syrup and walnut chocolate bitters in it. Served with an orange slice and two berries in it, I liked it a lot. The whiskey and bitters played well together and it was easy to drink and flavorful. They also had a selection of gin, vodka, aquavit, a Bloody Mary and 6 Wisconsin beers on tap, so the selection was pretty solid.
I will definitely go back to 45th Parallel Distillery for the ambiance and pizza. I intend on checking out the Stillwater location at some point too. New Richmond was in desperate need of some new digs and this fits the bill perfectly. I feel bad that I had not known about it sooner, but the owners have done a great job with the facility and I do recommend that you check it out.
Add comment
Comments