Journeyman Distillery

Ok… let me start by saying, I’m not much of a drinker but Daaaaang!
Love this place, is definately the jewel of town along with the B&B Three Oaks Inn.
If you go to the distillery, you HAVE TO HAVE THE BREAD Pudding. it will change your life!

I’m back … And once again impressed!
This time I was flying solo mid-​week and ate at the bar. I had the pulled pork, house gin & tonic and the Mentha Hibernis cocktail. Everything was superb and the service was no exception.
This place has a wonderful atmosphere — even for a Tuesday!
I highly recommend and can’t wait to come back.

Good Food, But Don’t Ask for a Cosmo!
Journeyman has expanded dramatically in the last year. Larger bar and an extended menu make it a more interesting place to stop in. My husband and I came in on a Saturday afternoon to check it out. There were about 20 people in the bar/​restaurant area, so it wasn’t busy. The food is decent; we had the seasonal pizza that included acorn squash. When we ordered our drinks, my husband picked one of their specialties (something with rum and pineapple juice) and I asked for a Cosmo. The waitress stepped away and then came back and told us that the bartender couldn’t (maybe wouldn’t) make one, which is ridiculous given that all the ingredients for a Cosmo are in other drinks on the menu. Suffice it to say that while the pizza was good, not being able to get the drink of my choice was very disappointing. I won’t be back.

Great atmosphere. Great building. Highly recommended. Definitely take the tasting tour. Their Gin is our favorite. The Duchess of Devonshire is an amazing drink — full of flavor. The pretzel and beer cheese is a great appetizer. Burgers are delicious and have great ingredient combinations. The pizza is also yummy. Prices are a little high, but they make up for it with the service.

Newer distillery in southwest Michigan. It’s not far from the interstate, so great for travelers between Chicago and Michigan’s left coast. Very worthy of a brief sidetrip.
Journeyman produces their own spirits in beautfiul, huge column stills that dominate your view as you walk in the front door. The production floor is visible from the entrance and restaurant area, and appears open and well-​organized. Clearly these folks love the art of distillation, and it shows.
GOOD:
* Nice location
* Very charming building. The atmosphere alone is a good reason to stop here.
* Plenty of room at the bar. A lot of thought clearly went into customer experience in designing this space.
* The small gift shop is pretty nice, with very original items for sale.
MEH:
* The bar cocktails, while detailed and intricate, are pretty terrible. They have all the right ingredients, but lack the subtlety and attention to detail in their mixed drinks. This place desperately needs an experienced mixologist to train bar staff. No one in my group had a good drink here, unfortunately.
* The whiskey produced here is not particularly exceptional. Like most new distilleries, Journeyman has (in my opinion) too rapidly over-​specialized. I hope in time they focus their attention on quality improvement one spirit at a time.
Given the love this distillery shows for their craft, and the attractiveness of the facility and location, I do believe there is a ton of potential here. I will come back again to see if spirit and cocktail quality have improved.

This is a distillery that you must go see very neat building their spirits are The finest and you’ll find their spirits in all well-​established eateries they are great fun Love their food, and I love their tour of the distillery, keep up the good work guys

This could have been so good, but the service was horrible and both of our dishes were missing parts listed on the menu. The whiskey and building were both awesome, just need to get the rest figured out. We were going to buy whiskey to take with us, but didn’t want to be reminded of how bad the overall experience was. Plus, the spot-​lighting was way too bright and unpleasant.

Love this distillery! Been a couple times now and the space is really beautiful, they make great whiskies and other booze and servers have been friendly. They have also opened up a restaurant next door that was really tasty and good and had friendly bartenders.

This review is for the tour only.
The space itself is pleasant– clean and welcoming with open concept dining. Compared to other tours that I’ve taken of breweries in Boston and Germany– the tour was not professional. It was conducted by a member of the wait staff and not a distiller. Save your money and time, and buy another cocktail. If you are interested in history– then read their website (same information and is free). The tour leader did not know the basics of the distillation process (disappointing).
Two small children under 7 were also part of the tour (is this safe and even legal)? Here kids, watch your parents slam 10+ shots of whiskey, while the bachelorette party at the table over is being naughty. It didn’t seem appropriate to have the kiddos there and was uncomfortable for my husband and I.

Stopped in on a Thursday night before Labor Day weekend. Was pretty quiet but had a great vibe about it.
We ordered the Hibiscus daiquiri and the Negrino. Both strong but very nice. As it was dinner time we shared a pulled pork sandwich and Chefs Board. Everything was delicious and the service was awesome.
Very nice vibe of the whole place also.
If you are in the area you should stop on by.

Took an hour car drive for a mini-​adventure day. Have since been back twice more.
Went on a Saturday afternoon… the place was PACKED, they have a small banquet room that holds special events, there was a wedding show going on. I think this is pretty normal on Saturdays… as they’ve grown in popularity they may have converted the space for more sitting area.
The place is gorgeous… all reclaimed wood from the original structure and a silo in Indiana I believe. The building is steeped in history, originally a corset shop!
We sat at the bar and picked one of their signature drinks, I got the lavender gimlet made with their own red arrow vodka and my friend got a rum drink. I liked his much better, mine had too much lime and had a ton of lavender seeds floating atop. They have a great ginger beer though and can whip up an above average Mule.
If you can, take a tour! The distillers’ mother does them, she is full of knowledge and you can see how excited she is to see her sons dream becoming reality.
All of their products are organic!

The $ 10 tour is a great deal. The guide was informative, friendly and there is plenty to taste. Really good products all around. Highly recommend. It was a busy Saturday and a popular place.
We enjoyed the well-​made cocktails at the bar on another visit on a quiet weekday. I was less impressed with the staff at the bar. No smiles, no engagement with customers the evening we visited. There was no table service or host, so people would walk in and be confused, sit down and wait for service, until they figured it out on their own. The bar is right next to the door. Is it that hard for the bartenders, who were not busy, to say, «Welcome! Have a seat where you like, and come order at the bar when you’re ready.»
We tried asking some questions about what we were drinking but got very little response. They seemed unhappy to be there, which seems odd when they’re serving such great stuff! The distillery would sell way more drinks and bottles if their bartenders were more interactive with the customers. Happy people buy more.

This is my favorite place to visit for a mixed drink in the area. I recommend having the OCG if you like sweet cocktails. But you really can’t go wrong with any of the old fashion concoctions. They have a small island bar, but the place is an open space with plenty of tables. Sometimes you can see staff in different stages of the bottling process or watch them working in the distillery which is an added bonus. When it’s not busy, the staff can tell you a great deal about the place while you have a drink.
They also have a small food menu if are inclined to nibble while you drink. It’s a great relaxed atmosphere to talk with friends. There’s no distracting tv, just some music playing in the background. In addition to buying a bottle of your favorite poison, I recommend getting a t-​shirt, the graphics look good and the shirts are really comfortable.

Awesome vibe. The guy on the trumpet for open mic night with his band is seriously phenomenal. Im thoroughly impressed on my first visit here. Though we didn’t try the food… The liquor is good (especially the cider… so sweet it is dangerous at 9+ percent) but for music lovers… This band is exceptional. If this is their open mic night I’d love to see their schedule. I’m wondering why this isn’t packed on a Friday night.

We just went here for my boyfriends birthday and had a blast! The whiskey was fun and the tour will get you drunk if you want to. One of the best tours I’ve been on. Never knew they made vodka.
For his birthday we did the traveling barrel program! So exciting and a great deal! Can’t wait until we get to bring our little barrel home.
Great time and he loves the drinks they made (I’m not a big whiskey fan so I can’t speak to them much)
Overall great time.

We were in the area for a Spring Break weekend getaway and stopped by Journeymen Distillery for a Friday 4:30 tour. The place was pretty empty, but for a March afternoon, that’s understandable. Before the tour, we opted for a Bathtub Gin cocktail and a Perfect Storm cocktail. Both were refreshing, albeit pricey at $ 10 a piece. The building is gorgeous with exposed beams and original brick.
We ended up being the only ones on the tour, so we got a VIP tour of sorts! Kim was a knowledgeable tour guide, and Phil, a Distiller, took time to answer our questions about the process. They made the whole experience awesome and personalized! After the tour, we got to sample each of the liquors made at the distillery (they offer gin, whiskey, rum, coffee liquor, etc.)
Didn’t get to try the food, though the grilled cheese with cheddar and apples sounded delicious! We will definitely be back next time we are in the area for the unpretentious, cool atmosphere and craft cocktails.

We stopped on our way to New Buffalo for a little nosh and a cocktail each. It was an interesting and fun place to visit– wish that we had more time to take the tour and try more of their spirits.
I promise that next time we are in the area that more time will be budgeted to be able to take advantage of all that Journeyman Distillery has to offer.

This is what I imagine heaven is like. Except in heaven I can drink as much as I want and not make a fool of myself, throw up, cry… fill in the blank with anything ridiculous. I didn’t do any of these things at Journeyman (this time). I was tempted though.
We went for a drink and decided to jump on the last tour of the day. I’m so glad we did the tour. I actually decided I may be a whiskey fan after all. The tour is about 45 minutes long (from what I remember). You are able to sample every single bottle they have at the end. They had some nice ones too. The tour was fun enough (I usually get bored on them). I would even do it again!
The bartenders are amazing! I had a frozen Moscow mule and then a whiskey drink. I can’t honestly tell you what was in it, but I do know I’ve liked whiskey ever since then. The bartenders know what they are doing. Just trust them.
We had dinner plans somewhere else but did grab the soft pretzels with cheese and they were awesome! I could easily spend an entire evening here. Just make sure you bring a DD. That whiskey is no joke!

Dude… no waiter service for Taco Bell hard shells and over priced drinks?! Hardly what we would call a fair experience. Nice to hear some live music, but I won’t pay $ 10 a drink just to hang out here for the night. Over pretentious without the return. Charc plate was decent, but $ 16!!! F**k it we’ll find another local joint more worth our dollar.
PS Sazerac was solid…

Journeyman Distillery is the kind of place where you walk out and say, «I can’t wait to introduce my friends to this.»
I showed up on a Sunday afternoon to sample some drinks with my girl. Contrary to some other Unilocalers, I thought the bartenders were super chill and relaxed. Not an ounce of pretension.
The prices seemed fair, too. I started with the whiskey flight, which was only $ 4. It was fun to compare each variety. The flight comes with a laminated sheet, explaining how each whiskey was made and the kinds of things to notice. (Silver Cross was my favorite of the five.)
My lady said she really enjoyed her espresso martini. I finished my visit with a frozen Moscow mule. Pretty much the perfect summer drink.
While we were there, a cool live band called Pushing Chain entertained us with some really solid tunes.
I found the place more cavernous than many Unilocal photos suggested. There is a smaller-​seeming front bar area, but that connects to a very big main room. We didn’t take a tour, but it’s nice that such things are offered.
So many of the drinks looked amazing. I’m looking forward to going back and checking some off my list.