CEDARBURG, Wis. — A women-led team is turning a historic Cedarburg building into a haven for cocktail enthusiasts.
Mary-Kay Bourbulas opened the Handen Distillery on Washington Avenue in Cedarburg in 2018. Seven years later, her team is still shaking and stirring up some of the best cocktails in town.
"That's what I'm into: one really nice cocktail, executed really well," Bourbulas said. "It starts with a really nice base spirit."
According to a post from the Small Business Administration, only around 8 percent of distilleries are owned by women. Bourbulas says she only knows of one or two other such distilleries in the entire state of Wisconsin.
"Most people expect a man running the business. It's kind of funny when [we'll] say, 'The owner's over there,'" Bourbulas said.
Watch: Women-led team revives historic Cedarburg building into a cocktail haven
The distillery is located in an old Ford dealership that sold Model T's in the 1920s. According to Bourbulas, the building has gone through several iterations since then, including once being bought by the city.
Handen produces several kinds of whiskey and three kinds of gin, plus cognac and vodka. They have a tasting room at the front of the business, which also doubles as a retail store.
"That's what gets me coming to work every day," Bourbulas said. "I love the people I work with. We love our customers."
Handen distills dozens of barrels of spirits inside the facility. They also have more than 100 barrels aging off-site. They are renovating the adjacent storefront into an aging room so they can eventually do it all on-site.
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