American Fifth Spirits distillery to open Monday

Rick Wyble and Mike Bird have coined the term "Partillectual" to describe their customers. Or maybe their ideal customers.

"They enjoy cocktail culture," Bird said. "They don't get wrecked (drunk). They live in the cocktail culture."

The cocktail culture they're helping to create, that is. Wyble and Bird are the proprietors of American Fifth Spirits, which will be Lansing's first distillery when it opens on Monday.

"We are the first one in Lansing, legally, the first distillery ever," Wyble said. "I hunted down tax records back to the 1890s and up to this point."

Wyble, 38, is president and CEO. Bird, 39, is in charge of marketing and tomfoolery (yes, that's in his title). The two have known each other for about 20 years.

American Fifth initially will make vodka, gin, and white whiskey. But they plan to try rum, brandy and absinthe. "Anything that can be distilled, we'll try at least once," Wyble said.

American Fifth, which holds one of the 45 small distiller licenses in Michigan, has been six years in the making.

Wyble used to sell beer and wine wholesale. He sold a lot of Michigan wines and beers. The notion of selling Michigan spirits, his own, hit him when the state law changed in 2008, reducing the small distillery license fee from $1,000 to $100, and allowing distillers to sell their spirits on-site without a distributor.

Wyble started attending distilling seminars and learning how to distill.

"I took a little time off from the industry in order to get some financial backing and then the financial climate had to change, too," he said. "I originally tried to get a loan back in 2009 and no one was going to loan me money at that point."

The two-story building that houses American Fifth was previously a pawn shop and before that a car dealership. It has 13-foot-ceilings, pine joists and steel beams, LED lighting and newly poured floors with radiant heat. It sits on Larch Street across the street from Cooley Law School Stadium.

About 700 of its 4,600-square feet will be dedicated to the distillery. The cozy tasting room, which has a great view of the distillery and a capacity to seat 80, will take up about 2,000.

The tasting bar is topped with pennies, copper like the still. Wyble initially ordered $800 worth. He estimates it took five or six people about 60 to 80 hours to pick out the shiniest coins.

American Fifth's first product â€” Hue Vodka â€” was released in November. The vodka is sold in about 90 bars and liquor stores throughout the state. You can expect to pay about $30 for a fifth.

They use soft red winter wheat sourced locally from Williamston. Their slogan is "Don't just drink it because it's better. Drink it because you are."

"We are tying it in with color and we're also tying it in with Michigan agriculture," Wyble said. "Michigan agriculture has so many different things. We're using wheat for this one, and I'd like to do a corn one, I'd like to do an apple one and I'd like to do a sugar beet one. Things that are very synonymous with what Michigan can do here."

They source as many ingredients as possible from Michigan farmers, the wheat and corn from Williamston, rye from Corunna, and micro greens and botanicals from DeWitt.

Bird says they got into this thinking it was going to be about distilling but quickly discovered this is more about Michigan agriculture and Michigan as a whole. For example, the smallest amount of grain they can go with is two tons. On their last run, they needed 10 tons. So how do you find that?

"You have to go out and make relationships with people that can do that and in our state it's the farmers," Bird said. "If you were to say we're blessed about anything, we have the best stuff in the world in our backyard. It's scientifically proven. Rick loves telling the story about the cereal makers being here. It's true. Cereal makers wouldn't be here if they didn't have just a river of gold that is wheat to pull from. That's really what we have. And it shines through in everything we do."

Under state law, small distillers are only allowed to sell alcohol they produce themselves in their tasting rooms. That creates a challenge where cocktails are concerned.

"Think of a margarita that has maybe Cointreau in it or triple sec," Wyble said. "We can't go to the store and buy Cointreau or Triple sec. We have to make it ourselves."

And Bird says they can and they will.

"The trick is, we get to do it the really cool way," Bird said. "We don't have to worry about going out to buy 40 other flavored alcohols. We get to use things like fresh fruits and aromatics and using heat induction and using pressurization to come up with flavors because we can only sell what we make."

Bird's favorite saying is, "we have all the crayons and all the canvas."

And they fully expect to change people's perception of how you can actually make a cocktail.

Wyble says Capital Gin and Fat Five White Whiskey will soon be available. But currently all they will have available is the vodka, which was actually produced off site at Red Cedar Spirits in East Lansing.

"We helped them develop the product," said Kris Berglund, an MSU professor who is head of the university's Artisan Distilling Workshop, Red Cedar Spirits in East Lansing and adviser to many new distillers around the state.

"We have a very positive relationship with them and don't view them as competitors or anything. I think the greater Lansing area will benefit from this."

Wyble and Bird are inclined to agree. They are proud to support the rest of the local cocktail economy and say they promote everybody else.

"We brag about 'hey, when you're done here, go down there," Bird says. "They make this cocktail at the Nuthouse or that at Tavern and Tap."

"We do not consider any of these places around here competition," Wyble said. "We'll suggest other places to go, but we may say 'while you're there, drink Hue vodka or drink Capital Gin'."

American Fifth Spirits

www.americanfifthspirits.com

â€¢ Address: 112 N. Larch St., Lansing, MI 48912

â€¢ Hours: 4 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday; Noon to midnight, Saturday; Noon to 8 p.m., Sunday.

â€¢ Menu: Includes Charcuterie, cheeses, pickles and olives, dips and crackers, popcorn from Cravings and nuts from the Peanut Shop; the cocktail menu will change on the fifth of every month. Standard cocktails include The Ginger, Salty Dog, Holy Hue That's Hot, Cranberry and Hue, the Michigan Mule and the Gimlet U540.

Other local distilleries

â€¢Red Cedar Spirits, the only distillery in East Lansing, is located in the former East Lansing Public Works building, at 2000 Merritt Road, East Lansing, MI 48823. www.redcedarspiritsdistillery.com

They offer five spirits right now â€” vodka, gin, whiskey, bourbon and brandy â€” and have three that will go into distribution in May.

â€¢Uncle John's Fruit House Cidery and Winery is located at 8614 North US 127, St. Johns, MI 48879. www.ujcidermill.com/winery

They offer apple brandy and vodka, alongside hard ciders and wines.

â€¢Sanctuary Spirits Distillery and Tasting Room is located at 902 E. Saginaw Highway, Grand Ledge, MI 48837. www.sanctuaryspirits.com

Sanctuary products, all made from local ingredients, include cherry vodka, cherry brandy, blueberry brandy, apple brandy and Spirit of the Maple, distilled from locally produced maple syrup.