During Christmas 2022, Sarah’s and Phil’s children living in Chicago brought home a new drink called a shrub. Sarah and Phil had never heard of it, but were intrigued by the history and the taste. The history of shrubs date back centuries to the Middle East and later to England where they were used as a preservative and drink. During COVID, shrubs had a resurgence in the US as a mocktail or cocktail, hence the family was experimenting with them during the holiday visit. Phil loved them but Sarah found the apple cider vinegar ingredients too harsh for her taste, which intrigued Phil.
Phil has focused his 40+ year career on new product development which continued when they moved to their cherry farm in 2016 to live full time in Leelanau. He began experimenting with cherry wine from the cherries grown on their farm. After years of tinkering with a family recipe and making many gallons of poor wine which was too sweet or simply not drinkable, he hit upon a wine version that was pretty good and similar to a pinot noir but made 100% from cherries. He had 50 gallons remaining in the storage barn so as their kids left after the holidays, he began experimenting in turning some of this cherry wine into cherry vinegar.
The experiment was initially successful but was difficult to scale up. This is when the Grand Traverse community came into action. Over the next year, local working and semi-retired experts came forward at just the right time to keep the project rolling forward. The process seemed blessed in that as hurdles presented themselves, someone in the local area was able to overcome the barriers in wine making, fermentation, positioning, branding, culinary arts, retailing, construction and distribution. “Leelanau County draws an eclectic and resourceful group of people. We talk about the outstanding natural resources of Northwest Michigan, but the real treasure are the people drawn to the lifestyle, environment and culture. These people came forward to assist many times without any expectation of payment. They just wanted to share their expertise and make a difference” according to the Hallstedts.
