Michigan’s lakefront towns still welcome tourists from Chicago, and day-trippers from other parts of Michigan. They attract a steady stream of visitors to their beaches, state parks, bed-and-breakfasts and tiny vintage hotels. The local climate is friendly to fruit growers: 75 percent of the nation’s tart cherries, over 250 million pounds, are grown here annually; and those same hardwood cherry trees also produce a flourishing furniture industry.

Dutch Calvinists were among the first to settle in the area during the 1840s. Their cultural, religious and business influences remain firmly rooted. Until last year, Sunday sales of alcohol were banned to varying degrees in many communities. On the surface at least, it seems an unlikely place for the brewing industry to gain a strong foothold. But it has, and in an impressive way.

Michigan has over 70 breweries, and almost a third of them make their home close to the shores of Lake Michigan. When you consider that most of the population is concentrated on the opposite side of the state, it’s an amazing demographic.

Let’s begin our journey just north of the Indiana state line in a city called Benton Harbor. Owner and brewmaster Steve Berthel of The Livery is betting on an economic turnaround. This downtrodden community has more available lakefront land than anywhere else on Michigan’s west coast, so he just might be putting his chips on a winner.

In 2005 Steve renovated the Palace Livery, located in what’s known today as the arts district. The “9-barrel Berthel” brewhouse was cobbled together at a cost of only $60,000. The fermenters are English grundys from Cameron and Tettington.

Steve, a woodworker, cyclist and music lover, did much of the restoration work himself. The bottom level has an L-shaped wooden bar and stools made from secondhand wood. If you look closely at the posts in the taproom, you’ll see the cribbing marks courtesy of the horses in the original livery.

Part of The Livery’s charm is being the only brewpub in Michigan with both a stage and a mezzanine. Upstairs you can see more of Steve’s handiwork. It has a state-of-the-art sound system and regularly showcases national acts.

There are normally 12 house beers on tap, including a hand pull and two to four lagers. They’re not just the usual suspects. The lineup spans the spectrum from pale ales to high-gravity ones. Steve uses generous amounts of Continental malt because he believes that his customers deserve to taste the rich flavors those malts impart.

Are Benton Harbor’s worst days over? Only time will tell. But if they are, Steve Berthel’s vision of making The Livery a destination for both beer geeks and locals will be one reason for the turnaround.

Hops, grapes and grains, with the occasional fruit, nut or spice thrown in for good measure. Brewers, winemakers and distillers—all doing their best to gain a greater share of the consumer’s stomach.

Sure, there were some giant multinational companies crossing the boundaries. But it was done in rigid corporate structures, with operating divisions and subsidiaries. It was not all that surprising when a liquor company like Seagram’s bought into wineries. Constellation Brands went from being just a wine producer to owning spirit brands, a brewery and the U.S. rights to a fast-growing imported beer by the name of Corona. Diageo, through acquisitions and mergers, amassed an empire that ranged from Guinness Stout to Captain Morgan Rum to Beaulieu Vineyards. And even America’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, started playing in two fields by announcing last year that it was marketing spirits under the Jeckyll & Hyde label and importing Ku Soju, a 48-proof Korean spirit.

But now it appears we have entered the crossover era of craft producers crossing lines. Brewers are distilling. Vintners are brewing. Consumers are drinking.

Early craft beer pioneers have caught the bug. Fritz Maytag of the legendary Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco operates a winery and a distillery. Bill Owens, who founded Buffalo Bill’s Brewpub in Hayward, CA, and ran a couple of beer-related publications, is now the president of the American Distilling Institute. The ADI provides information resources and advocates for small distillers, plus hosts an annual Craft Distilling Conference.

“I don’t know if the potential volume for artisan distillers can match the growth of craft beer,” says Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware. “However, I don’t think the early craft brewers at New Albion or Sierra Nevada envisioned how large the craft brewing movement would become.”

Calagione is one of the pioneers who has decided that if brewing beer is fun and profitable, then distilling liquor also holds potential. “Our goal in opening the distillery was to further expand on our concept of off centered ales for off centered people,” Calagione says. “We don’t brew to style, we never have since we opened the brewery in 1995.”

Dogfish Head is sticking to that approach under distiller Mike Gerhart, who crafts rum aged in French oak with wildflower honey, a gin called Jin and a liqueur distilled from honey and flavored with maple syrup called Be. Dogfish Head’s Vodka Erotica is an exotic flavored vodka made with rose water, watermelon juice and a number of secret spices. If you show up at the company’s Rehoboth Beach pub you can even sample small batch specialty vodkas made with chocolate and vanilla beans.

Rogue Spirit

At Rogue Ales in Oregon, the brewing of extreme beers also led to the making of extreme spirits. Always up for a challenge, founder Jack Joyce said Rogue decided against making vodka in favor of starting with rum because “we figured if we could make rum, we could make anything.” Light rum and dark rum moved them to a rum flavored with hazelnuts and then to a spruce gin that contains 14 ingredients. Rogue is considering other products, perhaps a brandy, flavored vodkas and even beer schnapps.

“Beer is really hard to make. You have to deal with lower alcohol contents and a high level of sanitation. Booze is real forgiving along the way,” says Joyce. “The danger for any brewer going into distilling is if you don’t make great products it can reflect on your beer. Making great spirits requires a great palate. You have to balance the various ingredients along the way.”

In addition to its brewing and distilling licenses, Rogue also holds a permit for a winery, but has no plans to start crushing grapes.

“We have a bit of a brand problem, since someone else uses the Rogue name for wine. Plus there are 300 wineries in Oregon. We don’t think there is a need for another one,” Joyce says.

In Massachusetts, Jay Harman has become a triple threat in the drinks world. Starting with Nantucket Vineyards in 1981, then Cisco Brewing in 1995 and onto Triple 8 Distilling in 2000, he has seen each business up close and personal.

“It’s a juggling act. It’s seasonal where we are with tourists out here for eight to nine months, then we have three to four months to regroup,” Harman says. The company gets its grapes from Washington state vineyards, bringing in juice for the whites and crushing red grapes on site. The company brews a range of beers and uses honeybell oranges from Florida to make Triple 8 Orange Flavored Vodka.

Triple 8 has been raising money to fuel new brands by selling futures on 53 gallon barrels of single malt “Notch” whiskey. The futures that went for $3,000 a barrel back in 2000 now sell for $6,000. Harman uses Cisco’s Whale’s Tale Ale, minus the hops, as the wash to distill to make the whiskey, which is aged for at least five years in used bourbon casks. He predicts the 200 750-milliliter bottles that come out of each cask could sell for as much as $200 each.

Brett VanderKamp, president of New Holland Brewing in Michigan, started brewing beer in 1997 and added distilling in 2005, making a brandy, rum and whiskey.

“What is important to us is that New Holland is known as a great brewery,” VanderKamp says. “I think New Holland will always be a brewery that happens to have a distillery.”

Still, the company is getting creative with its distilling operation and is making some very interesting products. It started distilling and laying down whiskey using several grains in a mash that is double distilled to 115 proof. On the rum side, VanderKamp says New Holland is “dabbling” with small batches to determine the right mix of cane sugar and molasses, as well as trying different barrel combinations for aging, including used bourbon barrels. On the brandy side, the company distills its product five times and is selling juniper- and raspberry-flavored products.