The Lincoln Park neighborhood has seen significant economic growth over the years. There will be another addition to the Craft District, a distillery and whiskey tasting room called the Duluth Whiskey Project.

When Minnesota enacted the Surly Law back in 2013, breweries and distilleries could finally sell their alcohol at their establishment, with the annual licensing fee being reduced from $30,000, to $1,000.

Kevin Evans, the owner of Duluth Whiskey Project, says he’s been distilling whiskey and vodka for several years. Now, after several months of renovations, Evans plans to open the doors as early as Superbowl weekend.

“This has been on the plan for about 11, 12 years. So this is kind of the dream come true finally for getting my own place,” Evans said. “We’re looking at maybe February, March, hopefully getting open. We’re closing in on being finished with the renovations here. So it’s going to be flooring and then installation of a bunch more of the wood like we have here. As far as production side, we’ve got to get all the equipment installed and as well as the kitchen.“

Evans, says this whiskey tasting room will a first of its kind in Lincoln Park. There will still be some tweaks to the menu as to what food they will be serving with their cocktails.

Ryan King is working the front of house operations for the Duluth Whiskey Project as the general manager. He says even though it’s a whiskey tasting room, they will feature other cocktails made from their signature UFFDA! Vodka. 

“The breweries down here are all doing extremely well, and cideries, I’m throwing them in with it. But to be something slightly different than that, I think offers up a unique experience.

The Duluth Whiskey Project started renovations a few months ago in August of this year. The staff were hoping to open before Christmas this year, but they are still making significant progress.

“I think anybody who’s done a project like this knows that it’s going to take longer. But no, it’s gone. It’s gone super well. So we can’t have zero to complain about. Our atmosphere that we’re going for should be a little bit different, incorporating that kind of whiskey lounge and old school flair with still having TVs and being able to come watch the Vikings or the twins or the Wilder or, you know, maybe Green Bay. But we just want a place that everybody would want to hang out at.”

For the past couple of months, King has provided updates on social media about the ongoing renovations. He says people will get to see more sneak peeks before they unveil the finished whiskey lounge next year.

“We’re going to start posting a little bit more of the smaller stuff. And my goal today was to post one last big one to kind of get everybody a feel for the color and then and then keep it a little bit more finite where we don’t show off the whole entire thing just yet and kind of let that be a surprise. We give the little snippets and pieces along the way.”

The Duluth Whiskey Project is offering folks the chance to be part of a Founders Club Membership. People can give a financial contribution to help with renovations and receive an exclusive discount.