One of the first Black-owned distilleries in the country is celebrating a decade in business.
Chris and Shanelle Montana co-founded Du Nord Social Spirits in 2013 as a way to bridge the rural-urban divide by using grain grown on Shanelle’s family farm in rural Minnesota and using it to distill spirits in south Minneapolis. Now more than ten years later, the brand is even more committed to producing quality craft spirits.
“These past ten years have been challenging but also a lot of fun,” the couple said in a statement shared with ESSENCE. “We are so thankful for our community (locally and nationally) for supporting us, and we are excited to continue to build Du Nord for another 10 years.”
CEO and head distiller, Chris Montana’s journey to owning a distillery was anything but traditional.
“Before doing this, my path is pretty windy,” Chris previously shared in an interview with The Grio.
He continued: “I’ve done a number of things, from working in fast food to being an attorney. I was a congressional aide for a little while. Immediately before this, I was working as a lawyer.”
But once he and his wife launched De Nord as a micro-brewery, they fast-tracked to success and achieved many feats in a short time.
For example, less than a year after its launch, Du Nord won its first award with vodka garnering the Triple Gold at the Microliquor Spirit Awards. In 2015, Du Nord opened the first ever cocktail room in Minneapolis. And in 2021, the brand entered into a partnership with Delta Air Lines to carry Du Nord vodka on all domestic and international flights.
Montana adds: “We are social in the sense of, people connecting and enjoying spirits together, but also social in the sense of affecting social change.