North Shore Distillery plan gets warm reception in Mundelein

As North Shore Distillery prepares to relocate to Mundelein, its owners got a friendly welcome from village officials Monday night.

Owners Sonja and Derek Hassebaum plan to move the business to an industrial building at 901 E. Orchard St. in June. It has operated in Green Oaks since 2004.

They appeared before Mundelein trustees Monday to present their plans and see if officials are interested in granting them a liquor license. The reaction was positive, with Trustees Erich Schwenk and Daniel Juarez and Mayor Robin Meier expressing support for the plan.

Schwenk said he couldn’t think of a better place to have a distillery than an industrial building like the one on Orchard.

“I love what you guys are doing,” he added.

Founded elsewhere in Green Oaks, North Shore Distillery and its popular tasting room have been at 13990 W. Rockland Road since 2016.

The Hassebaums’ plan is to open the distillery on Orchard Street and launch a stand-alone tasting room elsewhere in town, ideally in the downtown area. They’ve already signed a lease for the Orchard Street space, Sonja Hassebaum said.

About 80% of the roughly 4,700-square-foot warehouse space will be used for manufacturing, Hassebaum said. If plans progress, the distillery will have a small bottle shop and seating area for product sampling — hence the need for a liquor license.

“It would be nice if we could offer the opportunity to buy bottles there,” Hassebaum told the board Monday.

Full-sized drinks won’t be served there, only samples, Hassebaum insisted. Sales of bigger pours and mixed drinks will be reserved for the eventual cocktail bar, she said.

Schwenk cautioned the couple that other spaces in the building are occupied by youth athletic groups. Hassebaum said that’s a safety issue with which the business already is familiar.

Before they left, the Hassebaums picked up a packet with a liquor license application from Meier. The board will vote on that application after it’s submitted.