In September 2014, abartender friend called and asked me if I’d like to check out something new in Eastern Market: a craft distillery. In my mind, distilleries were massive, blocks-long complexes like the one I could see across the river in Windsor, Ontario’s Walkerville neighborhood or ancient, refined producers like those in Kentucky or Scotland. An old brick warehouse in then-sleepy Eastern Market seemed like a novelty that might not last.
Ten years later, and boy, was I wrong. Since its opening as a tasting room with a few barrels stored in the back room, Detroit City Distillery’s eight owners have pushed themselves to expand, to create new spirits, and to make their Eastern Market distillery, tasting room, and event space some of Detroit’s magnet entertainment venues.
J.P. Jerome was one of those eight founders and continues today as the master distiller, overseeing distillers Steve Orzechowski and Rex Harrison. That opening week, he says, was “totally crazy. Being an owner, it was amazing and exciting, and I was just happy that a bunch of people showed up to visit our place. Because [there’s] always the fear that you put two years of work in and open the doors, and it’s just a giant dud.”
During the first wild months of the tasting room, DCD served two kinds of vodka, a gin, and the owners’ first crack at whiskey: the Bloodline American whiskey, using Michigan grains that were distilled and aged off-site. That first whiskey, says Jerome, is where he and his partners really found their footing. From the first off-site-distilled whiskey to today, he figures there have been a few dozen offerings, and a handful of clear spirits have stuck around, including the Railroad Gin, Summer Rum, and Paczki Day vodka. They’ve also dived into well-publicized collaborations including the Honey Barrel bourbon with Bees in the D and The Detroit News 150th single-barrel bourbon. These days, Jerome estimates that “90-plus percent of our time is making bourbon.”
The first year after opening, the tasting room had around 15 barrels aging in the back, Jerome says. “The entire distilling space [was filled] with barrels and totes and bottles of booze. … In the morning, we’d have to take it all out into the alley, so we had room to distill or bottle or whatever we were doing, and then at the end of the day bring it all back in.”
Fortunately, the team soon found a solution in a repurposed building with its own boozy past as the onetime home of Goebel Brewing Co. and then Stroh’s Ice Cream. In 2015, The Whiskey Factory, just down Gratiot Avenue from Eastern Market, started production as a distilling space, just before the partners began distributing Detroit City Distillery products nationwide. Not long after, head distiller Steve Orzechowski even used the rickhouse to host his own wedding, which gave DCD’s owners the idea to renovate the space as an event venue in 2017. Today, The Whiskey Factory hosts weddings and corporate events and provides private tours and tastings.
Jerome admits “this is the first business I’ve ever founded and operated, so there’s no handbook, and all kinds of weird things [have happened] along the way.” Still, he’s grateful for his partners and excited for the next steps. After 10 years in Eastern Market, a lot has changed — in the market, in the cocktail world, and in Detroit overall — Jerome says, but “I love where we ended up after 10 years, and I love where we’re headed.”
This story originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Dec. 9.
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