New ordinance, license would allow Skokie distillery to sell spirits directly to local restaurants, stores

The Skokie Village Board is poised to approve a new ordinance that would make it easier for a local distillery to sell its small-batch rum, gin and malt whiskey to restaurants and stores. 

Under its current license, Take Flight Spirits can manufacture liquor and sell to patrons on site, but Skokie’s sole distillery must work through a distributor to get its products onto the shelves of other businesses, said Carrie Cole, the distillery’s founder. 

If the Village Board moves forward with amending its code, and if Take Flight Spirits succeeds in obtaining a new “Class 3” Craft Distiller license the state legislature created this year, the establishment will no longer always need a middleman to sell to other vendors, Cole said. 

The change, Cole said, could boost sales and advance her vision for the downtown Skokie distillery, 8038 Lincoln Ave., as being part of the local business community.

“We need to continue to grow because the tasting room is great and we love having people come in, but if we’re not able to start really selling to a wider audience, it’s going to be hard for us to continue to succeed,” Cole said.

Skokie trustees will vote on Aug. 17 whether to provide final approval to the ordinance. Cole said she is also working to obtain the requisite state license that would allow her to sell products without a distributor, but she does not yet have a confirmed date for when she may obtain it. 

A village memo states that the Illinois legislature “received feedback” from small distilleries that it is “difficult to obtain contracts with distributors who, by definition, deal in large-scale sales without being able to get the word out about their liquor brand by marketing directly to stores.”

Cole, who is a member of the Illinois Craft Distillers Association, echoed that she found it difficult to find a distributor after opening Take Flight Spirits in 2021.

Cole said it was hard to find a willing distributor because Take Flight Spirits did yet have brand-name recognition and she wasn’t planning on immediately stocking her products in big box stores — she wanted to pursue “organic growth” first. 

Take Flight Spirits eventually found a distributor last year who has helped supply Take Flight’s products in two nearby local restaurants on Lincoln Avenue — the Village Inn Pizzeria and Ascione Bistro Skokie — and another in Chicago, Cole said. 

Cole said she plans to continue working with that distributor even if Take Flight Spirits obtains permission to sell directly to other vendors, but the change could help her “develop a personal relationship” with other businesses to first get the local products in the door. 

Take Flight Spirits’ distributor could then ideally help fulfill larger orders in the future, Cole said. 

Stew Weiss, an attorney in Skokie’s corporation counsel, said on June 20 that Illinois’ existing system splitting the sale of liquor from manufacturers to distributors was put in place during the Prohibition era. 

The Village Board’s vote on June 20 showed unanimous preliminary support for the change, which would align Skokie with the state law that also allows bars and restaurants to sell mixed-drinks and cocktails for carryout. 

“We try to offer something that makes everyone feel welcome and have something that they can enjoy,” Cole said. “And I have gotten the most enjoyment out of being able to make connections with the local businesses, particularly in downtown Skokie.

“It’s a really supportive community and so I love the fact that our first sales were to restaurants who are literally within a couple hundred feet of my front door. It just means a lot that we’ve developed that there’s a community there that is willing to support us in whatever way they can.”

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