Its name, from the 15th century Middle English, means “a worker who has learned a trade and works for another person usually by the day.”
It certainly describes the journey that Journeyman Distillery’s visionary distiller and owner Bill Welter has taken as an entrepreneur. However, it also describes, to his way of thinking, something more.
“It is about working your way up through the ranks, but ultimately the travel aspect of the name refers to people travelling here and then also the journey the grain takes from the field to our distillery, where it goes through the whole process into the barrels and spends quite a lot of time on its own journey,” he said.
Welter knows of what he speaks. The Valparasio, Ind. native has spent a fair amount of time journeying about both this country and abroad, first as a student and golfer, then in his quest of a second career when his family’s local bank of 35 years was sold.
“Having worked behind a desk at the bank and having given people money on the lending side of things to begin businesses, I wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the desk,” said Welter.

“I wanted to be that guy starting a business and to be creating something with my own hands — to actually create something versus giving someone else money to do that.”
His journey took him to Australia to follow the work of a man named Greg Ramsay, an entrepreneur from Tasmania, he met while working at a restaurant in St. Andrew’s Scotland. His new friend was there raising money for a golfing venture and told

Welter of his next project: a distillery in Tasmania.
Ramsay’s ideas left Welter wanting more so he traveled to Tasmania to work with his new friend and mentor.
“I spent a lot of time with Greg and his staff and travelling around to different distilleries in Tasmania and then in the USA talking to people who did own distilleries gathering more information to find out if this was truly something I wanted to do,” said Welter.
Last summer he did a “kind of internship” with Koval, the first craft distillery in Chicago since the prohibition. He spent a couple of months working on site.
“I guess I had a little foresight, for at that time I was not only training with them but was developing a product that we made at their distillery, barreled it and we will have it available for our Oct. 7 opening. So it will be a young whiskey, aged 14 to 15 months — nice from the viewpoint that we will have an aged product when we open. Most new distilleries don’t have that and have to wait and wait and wait…” said Welter.
The result is Journeyman’s first production: Ravenswood Rye.
The waiting for a spirit to age is only part of the process. First the grain goes into a mill where is it ground to flour called grist. From there it travels to the mash tank. Once there it is mixed with water and takes on a porridge-like consistency as its starches are turned into sugars, a product known as wort. To that yeast is added in the fermentation tanks and in three to four days the action of the yeast on the sugar of the wort will produce alcohol.
According to www.whisky-distilleries.info, “As result of the fermentation of the wort, a kind of beer with a percentage of approximately 8 percent. Till now, there are no substantial differences in the process of making whiskey and the making of beer.”
Then it’s off to the still. The distillation process is used to separate alcohol from water and other substances contained in the wash. This is a classical operation, and it is the base of each spirit around the world and where the magic takes place.
The resulting mix will be the varieties of spirits offered. This is a highly regulated industry and the various mixes have to meet stringent standards before they are released for public consumption.
Journeyman Distillery ages its spirits in white oak barrels and for some of its products is using an 1800s system of maturing the distillations in smaller barrels.
“The smaller the barrel the more of the wood’s surface is in contact with the product, allowing for a quicker maturation,” explains Welter.
The young distillery is a work of passion and friendship. Bar manager Matt Jannetta, worked with Welter at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. in the days when he toyed with the idea of opening a restaurant.
“I really learned a lot about that industry. At least I learned enough to know that it wasn’t for me at this time,” he said. “Seriously, that’s hard work. However, working in that environment with people who are successful at that paid a lot of dividends now and we learned the quality standards of what we are trying to achieve and the ambiance we hope to create.”
Journeyman Distillery, located at the Featherbone Factory, 109 Generation Drive, Three Oaks, will create organic vodka, gin, rum, whiskey and more as Jannetta experiments and gathers more local products (honey!) to create the cocktails patrons will enjoy.
“Organic in this context refers to our support of local growers using sustainable agriculture practices where the grain is not influenced by chemicals. For me it is an easy choice,” said Welter.
Serving as a consultant at this point in time is Nick Gurniewicz, a friend of Welter’s since middle school. Gurniewicz currently works with Wirtz Beverages (owners of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team) in Chicago. He has 12 years experience with marketing and distribution — knowledge Welter hopes to put to good use as the business evolves.
Originally Welter hoped to open to the public in May; however, setbacks and old buildings just seem to go together and after discovering the floor beneath the bar and event rooms was less than as stable as he required, they were forced to pull up the old floor. They maintained some of the lumber to redo the entryway and lounge area and then poured concrete over the new foundation for the event room, which looks into the distillery.
E.K. Warren, who originated the Featherbone Factory, is reputed to have been a staunch prohibitionist; however, even he would have to approve of the extensive and gorgeous restoration Journeyman Distillery has brought to his building. A picture of his workers in the factory’s heyday overlooks the stylish lounge next to the bar.
The Journeyman’s event room can accommodate approximately 150 patrons and they are already taking bookings as they look forward to opening to the public Oct. 7. For the first several months, hours will be limited to weekend traffic: Friday, 4 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m. By spring they hope to be welcoming “journeymen” from the local area and from afar six days a week. Tours and tastings will be available.
Remember: Oct. 7. See you there!

For more information check out the company’s Facebook page at facebook.com/journeyman.distillery and keep an eye out for its upcoming webpage at journeymandistillery.com. A well-done video depicting the journey is also available through the Facebook page. Check it out or call (269) 820-2050.