Last Call: Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame Nominations Due by Midnight, Saturday Sept. 30

On Saturday at 11:59 p.m., Central Standard Craft Distillery Co-Founders Evan Hughes and Pat McQuillan will take the last nominations for this year’s class of the Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame. The hall of fame is all part of a month-long campaign encouraging Wisconsinites to request hand-crafted brandy from local, family-owned distilleries in their Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned cocktails.

“We’d love for everyone to ask for our North Wisconsin brandy when ordering their Old-Fashioned cocktails,” McQuillan said. “But more importantly, we want to encourage people to drink locally, support hard-working Wisconsin families and taste brandy from local distillers.”

To build awareness for their drink-local crusade, Hughes and McQuillan worked with the Wisconsin governor’s office to proclaim September as Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned month.

“Wisconsin Brandy Old Fashioned month is all about showcasing and connecting Wisconsinites with great local distilleries,“ said Hughes, who is also a board member of the Wisconsin Distillers Guild. “Here in Wisconsin, the spirits industry supports more than 39,000 jobs from family farmers and truck drivers to glass-bottle makers and those in the hospitality industries. In all, Wisconsin distilleries impact billions of dollars in economic activity each and every year in our state.”

The Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame
Hughes and McQuillan are again ask folks from across the state and country to nominate individuals deserving of Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame status. Anyone can nominate a potential hall of famer by going online to thecentralstandard.com/brandy-old-fashioned-hall-of-fame and explaining why he or she is worthy in 50 words or less.

“Last year, we inducted six folks from across the state and beyond into the inaugural class of the Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame,” Hughes said. “There was a 90-year-old grandfather nicknamed Old Fashioned; the owner of a State-Fair winning Old-Fashioned recipe; and an out-of-stater who travels home as she just can’t find a quality Old Fashioned outside Wisconsin. That is what the Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame is about: Honoring everyday folks who love and embody our state’s favorite cocktail.”

Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame nominations will be accepted through this Saturday, Sept. 30 and a panel of judges will select this year’s inductees based on the strength of their nomination and their story. The 2023 honorees will be announced in October and an induction ceremony will be held in February.

Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame inductees receive a year’s supply of North Wisconsin brandy; a custom bottle of North Wisconsin brandy with their photo on it; lifetime VIP status at the Central Standard Crafthouse & Kitchen, the Midwest’s first urban distillery and restaurant at 320 E. Clybourn St. in downtown Milwaukee; and recognition in the Brandy Old Fashioned Hall of Fame in the Founders’ Room at the Crafthouse & Kitchen.

A Wisconsin-Wide Grassroot Effort
Hughes and McQuillan also advertised their drink-local campaign on billboards across Wisconsin this month to encourage folks to drink local.

“When we ask, people share that they often order the same old brandy in their Old Fashioneds because that’s just what they’ve always done,” McQuillan added. “When they taste ours and others made here in Wisconsin, they’re floored by the flavor. That’s our ask: Next time you order an Old Fashioned, give a brandy from a local distillery a try as we’ll put the taste of our North Wisconsin brandy up against any competitors across the country or around the world.”

Central Standard: Your Local Midwest Craft Distillery
Central Standard Craft Distillery, a small batch, craft distillery in Milwaukee and the fastest growing top-10 Wisconsin-based distiller, handcrafts award-winning, bourbon, whiskey, vodka and gin from locally sourced ingredients including cherries grown in Door County and honey harvested in Germantown. Founded in 2014, Central Standard spirits have won 40 medals across multiple craft distilling categories.

Central Standard’s portfolio of premium spirits includes Red Cabin Bourbon, Door County Cherry Vodka and North Wisconsin Brandy*. Door County Cherry Vodka is a blend of Central Standard’s award-winning 100% handcrafted vodka infused with Door County cherries, which are mellowed with a touch of local-harvested, fresh honey. North Brandy, which is handmade in small batches and aged for a minimum of two years, is finished in Central Standard bourbon barrels. Red Cabin Bourbon is aged to perfection and then finished in California Cabernet wine barrels. Thanks to the red-wine-barrel-finishing, Red Cabin Bourbon – which earned a Gold Medal and received a 93-point score at the prestigious Los Angeles Invitational Wine and Spirits Challenges earlier this year, delivers a complex-yet-approachable taste.

Central Standard Crafthouse & Kitchen: A Must-Visit Milwaukee Destination
In 2021, A multi-million-dollar project transformed a formerly vacant three-story, 11,700-square-foot building in downtown Milwaukee into Central Standard’s Crafthouse & Kitchen. The distillery’s new home, which was built in 1874 and is one of the oldest in Milwaukee, boasts a tasting room, restaurant, private-events spaces, rooftop patio and a future tour operation.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.