Far North Spirits

On a wheat field turned working farm near the Canadian border, Far North Spirits grows nearly every grain it distills, mills and ferments it on site, and ages the results a few hundred feet from where the rye and corn were planted. It calls itself the northernmost estate distillery in the contiguous United States, and the claim is not just marketing: the Hallock, Minnesota facility sits close enough to the border that the growing season itself shapes the whiskey.

History & Heritage

Michael Swanson and Cheri Reese founded Far North Spirits in 2013, returning to Swanson's family farm in the Red River Valley after twenty-year careers in Minneapolis and Denver. The Swanson farm has been worked continuously by the family since 1917, and the distillery itself was built on what had been a wheat field. Swanson serves as head distiller and Reese as creative director, and multiple independent sources, including Business Insider and regional agriculture press, credit both as founding partners of the operation.

The Whiskey

Far North's whiskeys start in the ground. The distillery grows AC Hazlet Winter Rye and two non-GMO corn varieties, Blue River Organic and Minnesota 13 Heirloom Corn, with all grain except malt barley grown within a mile of the still and stored in on-site bins. Fermentation is open-top with house-selected yeast over four to five days, and the wash is double distilled to 150 proof on a 500-gallon hybrid pot still built with an eight-plate column from Vendome Copper & Brass Works.

The flagship Far North Spirits Roknar Rye Whiskey uses a mash bill of 80% AC Hazlet rye, 10% heirloom corn, and 10% malt barley, entering the barrel at 118 proof for two years in small 15-gallon charred oak barrels before a finish in Cognac casks. The Far North Spirits Roknar Bonded Rye Whiskey follows the same mash bill but ages a minimum of four years in full-size 53-gallon new oak barrels, bottled at 100 proof under bottled-in-bond rules, meaning it is the product of one distiller in one season. The Far North Spirits Hazlet Single Varietal Bonded Rye Whiskey and its non-bonded counterpart isolate AC Hazlet rye almost entirely, at 95% rye and 5% AC Hazlet custom rye malt, built to show what a single rye varietal can do on its own. The Far North Spirits Bodalen Bourbon Whiskey inverts the ratio toward corn, at 60% Minnesota 13 heirloom corn, 30% AC Hazlet rye, and 10% malt barley, aged two years in Minnesota-made oak barrels.

That attention to rye varietals is not incidental. Swanson ran a multi-year study with University of Minnesota rye specialist Jochum Wiersma, backed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, evaluating fifteen rye varieties through blind tastings to determine how each one carries through distillation into flavor. The work fed directly into the single-varietal releases and helped earn Far North Spirits recognition as a 2026 Innovation Winner from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States for Single Varietal Rye Whiskey, an award that came with a $10,000 cash prize and a year of DISCUS membership.

Why It Matters

Far North Spirits is farm-to-glass in a way few American whiskey producers can claim: the same operation plants the grain, mills it, ferments it, distills it, and ages it, all within sight of the fields. The distillery is also America's only certified Bee-Friendly Farm Distillery, and its regenerative practices, no-till planting, cover cropping, prairie restoration, and reuse of spent grain as cattle feed, extend the estate model into the surrounding land. Owned and run by Michael Swanson and Cheri Reese since founding, the distillery now ships to fourteen states and Washington, D.C., but production remains rooted entirely in Hallock.

Visiting the Distillery

The cocktail room is open Saturdays from 5 to 9 PM, with walk-ins welcome and no reservation required. Tours of the distillery and farm are available by appointment, and the full lineup of Far North Spirits whiskeys is available for purchase on site.