De Pere, Greener Bay Compost team up to fight food waste
Family Roots Greenhouse – rooted in family, friends and plants
April 18, 2024
OSHKOSH – After a year in business, Sturgeon Spirits President Karl Loewenstein said the small-batch distillery in Oshkosh is eager to see what lies ahead.
The business at 2663 Oregon St. produces more than 120-plus different spirits and houses a tasting room for sipping craft cocktails made from local ingredients.
Loewenstein said he is pleased with how well the business has been received in such a short time, especially considering the endeavor is a big swerve from his previous work.
Loewenstein retired this January, at age 55, from a 21-year career teaching history at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
He said he decided it was time to turn his avocation into an occupation.
“I was looking for a second career, but as a historian, I knew I had to make my own path,” he said. “So, that’s what I did.”
As a history professor, Loewenstein said he was well aware of the country’s long, complicated relationship with alcohol.
For years, the self-described “moonshiner” said he’d been distilling spirits in the garage of his Oshkosh home, learning the craft and perfecting his recipes.
Scaling up
Distilling in one’s garage and scaling up to an actual business, Loewenstein said, are two entirely different things – therefore he did plenty of research.
“I’m a book learner, so I did a lot of reading,” he said.
Loewenstein said he also relied on the resources available to him via the Wisconsin Distillers Guild, a nonprofit organization formed in 2014 by several Wisconsin distillers to promote Wisconsin-made spirits.
Membership consists of licensed DSPs (distilled spirits plants) producing beverage alcohol in Wisconsin.
Loewenstein said DSPs are required to be licensed by both the federal government and state governments.
“I leaned on them, and I went to meetings and talked to folks and if I had any questions, they helped me out,” he said.
Being president of Sturgeon Spirits is a second career for Karl Loewenstein, who spent 21 years teaching history at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Submitted Photo
According to the American Distilling Institute – the largest trade organization dedicated to craft distilling in the world – as of July 15, 2022, there were 2,230 active distilleries in the United States.
An “active U.S. distillery,” according to the institute, is defined as making and selling its brand of products to the public.
Ledgerock Distillery, N5287 Grandview Road in Fond du Lac, Loewenstein said, was one such resource.
Owned by the Jay Retzer family, Ledgerock spirits are made from grain grown on the Retzer family farm.
“We like to make ourselves available to people getting into the business,” Retzer said. “We owe it to the industry to help each other.”
Loewenstein said the support he received from Retzer was “amazing.”
“If I had a question, they helped me out,” he said. “I took all my contractors down there to look at their operation so they could see how things worked.”
Loewenstein said he also talked to other distillery owners located all over the state.
“It’s a great industry, and we’re not competing with one another,” he said. “Everyone has their local niche. They don’t see me as a threat. If our industry does better, it’s better for everyone.”
Agreeing, Retzer said since many variables go into distilling, supporting each other isn’t seen as competition.
“Whether it’s the grain, or the equipment or the water, I don’t think anyone can duplicate what anyone else does,” he said. “There are so many flavors. We could never all be the same, and we all have our own flavors.”
Culture of sturgeon spearing
Loewenstein said the Sturgeon Spirits’ name was inspired by two things.
Though not a spearer himself, he said he has always appreciated the culture of sturgeon spearing, and as an Oshkosh resident on Lake Winnebago, he had a bird’s eye view of the activity during sturgeon season.
According to the Wisconsin DNR website, the season takes place the second Saturday in February and lasts for 16 days or until any of the sex-specific harvest caps for that fishery have been reached.
“That’s something that makes our community, and the whole area around Winnebago, unique and special,” he said.
Learning the history of his home, Loewenstein said, also served as inspiration.
“It turns out the house I bought when I moved to Oshkosh was built by sturgeon poachers,” he said, adding that relatives of the original owners shared stories of raids and secret compartments in the basement to hide fishing equipment.
A cocktail room, not a bar
Though the history of sturgeon spearing has had its excitement, Sturgeon Spirits General Manager Todd McLean said the vibe in the tasting room at Sturgeon Spirits is decidedly more low-key.
McLean said he took the job because he wanted a change from the traditional bar atmosphere. That is, no jukeboxes, no Packers games on TV and no dealing with the chaos of bar close.
The collaboration with Loewenstein, McLean said, works well.
“We sat down and had a good conversation and learned we made a good match,” he said. “We’re a good yin and yang, and we complement each other. He makes great base liquor and I flavor it.”
The Sturgeon Spirits menu, McLean said, consists of cocktails made from vodka, gin, rum and whiskey, with flavor additions, including Oshkosh-based Oaks chocolate, Wisconsin-grown cranberries, pears, Door County cherries and much more.
Manager Todd McLean said the vibe in the tasting room at Sturgeon Spirits is low-key. Submitted Photo
“This is a cocktail room and not a bar,” he said. “We charge $9 a drink, and it’s a small drink, so it has to be good, and we have to justify why we’re charging that.”
McLean said bottled spirits are also sold in the tasting room and online.
Looking ahead
Loewenstein said he is excited about the upcoming summer season and hosting events, like a music series on the patio.
He said they are also renovating a space for private events, such as bachelor parties, baby showers and corporate meetings.
The space, Loewenstein said, will have its separate bar from the tasting room and multimedia equipment for presentations.
“You can have your board meeting and then have some cocktails afterward,” he said.
Loewenstein said Sturgeon Spirits also acquired the equipment to can its own cocktails.
“That’s the next part of the spirits industry,” he said.
Collaborating with local breweries, Loewenstein said, is also on the list of things he wants to explore – citing Fifth Ward Brewery, Sunken Paddle Ciderworks and Fox River Brewing as three businesses with which he hopes to work with on interesting product mixes.
“We have a great community here in Oshkosh,” he said.
Loewenstein said he is mindful of the balancing act between actual revenue and potential revenue and whether to invest more in the business, with the expectation the revenue will follow.
Though he said he is loath to concede the job of distilling to anyone else, hiring a production assistant may be the next logical step.
“We can produce a lot more than we’re producing, and we’re at that moment where it’s time to get someone who can spend more time doing more production,” he said.
As he looks to the future, Loewenstein said he also reflects on his first year in business.
“It’s exciting, and we’ve done great,” he said. “We made it through our first year, and we almost made money. That’s huge for your first year.”
Sturgeon Spirits is open from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 1-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Sundays 1-6 p.m.
For more information, visit sturgeonspirits.com
