North Woods Distilling: A one-man business turns Wisconsin rum into a sweet sensation

COLEMAN - Smooth Sailing Rum started with an experiment on the stove at Curt Naegeli's home. 

He wanted to know how distilling worked, and if he could make a liquor that he enjoyed more than what he could purchase at a local store. For a while, all the concoctions he made in his homemade stove top still were undrinkable and unpleasant, he said. But eventually he was able to create recipes that tasted like popular rum brands on the store shelves, recipes that even his friends at the Green Bay Yacht Club enjoyed with him. 

Today, Naegeli is proud that he's turned his illegal hobby into a full-time job. He's producing thousands of bottles of rum a year at the North Woods Distillery, a small distilling business run out of about 2,000 square feet of a brick building in downtown Coleman, a tiny town about 40 miles due north of Green Bay. 

The business turned 6 years old this year, and it's finding an audience among fans of rum. It has even been used to flavor a cheese sold nationally. Now Naegeli is focused on taking his one-man business outside of the boundaries of Wisconsin. 

Seeking a smooth, sweet finish

Before he turned distilling into a full-time occupation, Naegeli dabbled in many different jobs, such as repairing machinery and selling cars. His first degree, from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, was in geology, but it didn't satisfy him. He went back to school for a masters in education, and spent a few years as an educator. 

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After about 10 years of experimenting, the hobby grew beyond just distilling in his home. He set out to find a distilling system and a place to put it. He put most of his money into the building, less than a mile from where he lives with his wife and two kids.

The process of making rum is a little different than the process of other liquors, Naegeli said. Liquors such as whiskey and vodka are made from grains, which leave a bitter taste on the tongue. He wanted to avoid that, which is why he was drawn to rum in the first place. 

"Rum has a smooth, sweet finish," he said. 

Rum starts with sugar cane. Sugars are extracted from the plant, which leave behind molasses. That molasses is fermented with water and cultured yeast, turning the mixture into an alcohol that can be put into a still, where the distillation process heats it.

But in order to produce a large quantity of rum, enough to sell, Naegeli was going to need his own still. He couldn't afford a brand new one, so he purchased an old piece of dairy equipment and some online books about distilling, and fashioned his own. 

"I studied still design and it took a long time before it clicked," he said. It didn't help that Naegeli wasn't naturally mechanically inclined. "I knew how a flashlight worked, but didn't know much more." 

But Naegeli was able to figure it out, and was even able to assemble a pulsing circuit responsible for heating the tank of alcohol so that it evaporates and condenses on cooled coils, creating the rum. He has since spent year refining the craft and perfecting the alcohol.

In the beginning, after the rum was distilled, Naegeli would then put it into kegs, which he would then add sugar, coloring and other ingredients, mixing and heating them until he created a smooth, sweet rum. That product is still what he sells today: a toffee-flavored rum he called Heath rum, and recently re-branded at Smooth Sailing Rum.

"I'd always loved toffee," he said. "And there wasn't another toffee liquor out there, so I decided to do it." 

Naegeli had figured out his niche, he said, and started the North Woods Distillery. 

It's about more than just distilling

Since opening the doors of North Woods Distillery in 2011, Naegeli has worked hard to keep the business running. 

In the beginning, he ran a tasting bar in the small distillery room, offering specialty cocktails made with his sweet rum. That's one of the only things that kept the distillery afloat, he said. He closed the tasting room in 2013, opting to spend his time fully on creating the rum, as he's the only operator and employee at North Woods. 

"I try to keep my time under 90 hours a week, so I can spend time with my wife," he said with a laugh. 

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But the dedication has paid off for Naegeli. Smooth Sailing Rum is distributed across the state. And Sartori Cheese, the Plymouth-based company, buys some of his rum to infuse their Rum Runner cheese, which is sold nationally at Whole Foods stores. 

Naegeli said for him, his distillery is about more than just creating alcohol. It's about creating a clean product, which a perfect recipe and process. 

"It's so much fun and it's so multi-faceted," he said. "There's always tweaking, you're always looking to make something better. It's a big challenge." 

It's not a challenge that he's had to pursue alone either, he said. Though Naegeli started experimenting before distilleries became legal in 2004, he's had plenty of help from those who were first in the state to open, like 45th Parallel in New Richmond and Great Lakes Distilling in Milwaukee. 

"Other distilleries aren't competition," he said. "They're helping, they all help each other."

Scott Davis, a distiller for 45th Parallel, agreed with Naegeli. Because the distilling industry is still so new in Wisconsin, he said many distillers rely on each other for troubleshooting and advice. 

"We developed a network," he said. "Though our products may all compete on the shelf, we all get along." 

Looking to the horizon

Naegeli, who is a big fan of sailing, said that he hopes that his rum will eventually take hold on the warm shores of the south, especially in Florida, where rum is the most popular. But in order to reach that point, he'll have to grow his business. 

Of course, he'd like to add more employees to the franchise, because at 56, he knows he won't be able to do it all himself forever. But he'll need to be able to sell more than 1,500 bottles a month, and that requires gaining a little more popularity. For the time being, he's focusing on marketing, posting daily to his Facebook page and traveling the state doing demos in small grocery stores. 

"To be successful, it's all about marketing," he said. 

Part of that marketing has been the re-branding to Smooth Sailing Rum, which included a new bottle and labels. Naegeli hopes that with the flashy label and sweet taste of his liquor, he'll be able to draw attention to the rum shelves everywhere. 

"I'm hoping to go global with it," he said. 

To learn more about the North Woods Distillery, and where the rum is sold, visit www.smoothsailingrum.com or the Smooth Sailing Rum Facebook page. 

Want to try out Smooth Sailing Rum? 

Here are some cocktail recipes that Naegeli has created for the sweet liquor:

Apple Pie 

1.5 ounces of Smooth Sailing Rum 

4 ounces of apple juice

2 ounces vanilla ice cream

1/8 teaspoon apple pie spice

Shake well or blend. Place a few small ice cubes in an 8 ounce glass, and pour in mixture. 

Toffee shake

1 cup vanilla ice cream

2 ounces Smooth Sailing Rum

Blend and pour into glass. 

Toffee Coffee

2 ounces of Smooth Sailing Rum

4 ounces of cooled coffee

Ice

Shake coffee and rum, pour over ice. 

Toffee Mocha

1.5 ounces Smooth Sailing Rum

1.5 ounces coffee

1.2 scoop of vanilla ice cream

1.5 ounces root beer

Shake rum, coffee and ice cream until smooth. Add root beer and pour into glass filled with ice.