A new 21,000-square-foot distillery that will produce whiskey and other alcoholic beverages as part of a new commercial and residential development is under construction in Cambridge.
Tom Maas (creator of Rumchata, a combination of rum and the milky Latin American nonalcoholic beverage horchata), and Travis Hasse (who makes, bottles and sells his father’s recipe for Apple Pie, Cherry Pie and Cow Pie liqueurs) have teamed up to operate Cambridge Distilling. The main building, visible from Highway 12/18, will be the centerpiece of a five-acre parcel in the northeast corner of the Vineyards at Cambridge.
“It’s a dream come true,” says Hasse, who operates Travis Hasse Distilling Co. in Waunakee and will serve as president of Cambridge Distilling. Maas’ mixologist son, Nicholas, will be master blender and has already designed a pot still for the new facility.
The $30 million Vineyards at Cambridge development on more than 73 acres in the historic village southeast of Madison will include single-family homes and condominiums, a winery, grapevines and the distillery. A possible events center is in the works, too. Frank Peregrine, owner of the Cambridge Winery Tasting Room on Whitney Way in Madison, and Waunakee developer Bill Ranguette are spearheading the project.
Hasse and Maas met several years ago in Las Vegas while filming scenes for the cable television show Hotmixology, and the two shared a highball table offering samples of their products.
The Maas family boasts three generations of distillers: Duane Maas; his son, Tom; and Tom’s son, Nicholas. Tom Maas worked for Jim Beam for decades before starting his own company, and he recently asked Hasse to scout potential sites in the Madison area for a distillery. “So I went out and started looking for a great location,” Hasse says.
He found it. The developers of the Vineyards at Cambridge have said they want to create a wine-centric destination community similar to those in California and unlike anything else in Wisconsin.
“Obviously, with whiskey, it takes time to get the product ready,” says Hasse, who has been designated the face and voice of Cambridge Distilling. “If you would start today, you wouldn’t have whiskey for four years.”
In the interim, Cambridge Distilling will produce a variety of other products — Hasse isn’t ready yet to commit to specifics — while honoring the community’s artisanal heritage. The idea is to source as many local ingredients as possible for products. “We’ll find our own grains and make our own mash,” Hasse says. “This will truly be a grain-to-bottle operation. We’re going to make everything from scratch as best we can.”
The new Cambridge Distilling building is expected to be completed in March and operational by mid-2016 — complete with tours and a 4,000-square-foot tasting room. Future plans call for the construction of four or five 10,000-square-foot barrel warehouses on the property.
