North Shore Distillery opened in 2004 as Illinois' first licensed craft distillery since Prohibition, and twenty-plus years later it's still run by the same husband-and-wife team that started it. Derek Kassebaum, a chemical engineer by training, handles production on Ethel, a custom 250-liter copper still handmade in Germany. Sonja Kassebaum runs the tasting room and keeps the cocktail program sharp. Together they've built a portfolio that spans vodka, gin, aquavit, absinthe, whiskey, and rum, all made in small batches with fresh, sometimes unexpected ingredients.

The tasting room is inside a converted kitchen cabinet showroom in Green Oaks, about 35 miles north of Chicago, and it's worth the drive. The space is divided into distinct seating areas, including a board room, a library with a fireplace, an outdoor patio, and a great room, giving it more personality than your average distillery bar. The cocktail list is thoughtful and seasonal, and the staff can usually pull something off-menu if you ask nicely.

You'll want to try the Distiller's Gin No. 6, the spirit that put North Shore on the map. It earned a Gold Medal from the Beverage Testing Institute and beat out Hendrick's and Bombay Sapphire in a Chicago Magazine blind taste test. The aquavit and absinthe are equally serious, and the whiskey program has grown steadily, with new single-barrel releases rolled out around the distillery's 20th anniversary in 2024.