NELS FORDE

GENERAL MANAGER

YAHARA BAY DISTILLERS

FITCHBURG, WI

Yahara Bay is our corn contributor for our 4-crop vodka collaboration. Founded in 2006, Yahara Bay was the first distillery in Madison and the second in Wisconsin. Always a restless spirit looking for something new, founder Nick Quint came out of retirement to start this new venture. Despite discouragement from everyone around him, including the banks, Nick decided to forge ahead anyway with his own savings. Not only has Yahara Bay been a success story, but it’s also now a second-generation family business with Nels Forde, former CPA, at the helm as General Manager.

“We just make sure it’s the highest quality. I’m proud of our products but more so, I’m

proud of the team who produces such high quality” says Nels. What attracted him to partner with American Liquor Co.? It was the collaborative nature of the project. From Nels’ perspective, bringing together the talent to create this vodka was key, and he’s happy to be a part of it. “The misconception is that it’s easy to produce high quality, clean vodka and it’s not. To have minimal impurities is not easy. And to find one… or four suppliers who can do that, it’s a challenge.”

His advice to others starting out in the industry is, “Come in knowing that it’s going to be hard, hard work, and you’re not going to get rich quick. Don’t expect to retire next year and make millions, because that’s not going to happen. But it can be a ton of fun.”