KOVAL Distillery

5121 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640

Breweries

Tour and taste your way through Chicago's first craft distillery since the mid-1800s.

Learn about our unique company and approach to distilling handcrafted, organic spirits, while sampling nine of our award-winning whiskeys and liqueurs. Pre-register for tours online at koval-distillery.com. Established in 2008, KOVAL produces organic whiskey, liqueurs and speciality spirits in Chicago's first distillery since the mid-1800s. Founders Robert and Sonat Birnecker, chose to leave their academic careers to bring the distilling traditions of Robert's Austrian family to America.

In making this decision, they vowed to make organic spirits from scratch (avoiding the common industry practice of purchasing and bottling pre-made spirits) and to change the way people understand whiskey by creating a new, signature style - using only the 'heart' cut of the distillate - affording a brighter, cleaner take on whiskey. Embracing the grain-to-bottle mentality, each step of the spirit-making process is thoughtfully monitored: from contracting local farmers to grow the grain to on-site milling and mashing, to finally distilling, bottling, and packaging.

After numerous international awards and Robert at the helm of consulting for the burgeoning craft industry, KOVAL has grown to be one of America's leading small batch, independent spirit manufacturers.