Duluth Whiskey Project sits in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on Superior Street, where owners Joe and Jill Schwalbe opened their doors in 2020 after years of planning and construction. Joe spent his career in engineering while Jill worked in marketing, but they’d been dreaming of opening a distillery since their early days together in college. The converted industrial space houses their 250-gallon copper still from Vendome Copper & Brass Works, where they’re producing bourbon, rye whiskey, and seasonal spirits with a focus on Minnesota grains. The 3,000-square-foot facility includes production space, a tasting room with exposed brick walls, and a retail area where you can watch the distillation process through large windows. They source their corn from Minnesota farms and age their whiskey in 15-gallon barrels to speed the maturation process in Minnesota’s temperature swings. The Schwalbes wanted to bring craft distilling to Duluth’s growing beverage scene, joining the city’s established brewing culture with something new.