Ugly Dog Distillery, Chelsea

Master distiller Jon Dyer leaves nothing to chance, tasting every batch of vodka before it goes into bottling. With Ugly Dog Distillery’s ever-expanding distribution market, he recognizes it’s a potentially daunting responsibility—but he wouldn’t want it any other way. Along with his partner Dewey Winkle, Jon follows in the tradition of early American moonshiners, distilling one potent, handcrafted batch at a time. Jon processes the Michigan winter wheat with his handmade grinder, transmuting the wheat into the slow, clear drops of the distillery’s near-final product through copper tubing into a large vat. Originally starting with vodka, Jon and the gang have expanded into rum and a unique brand of bacon-flavored vodka, with more flavors in the works. The small but thriving distillery sometimes works round the clock, with Jon juggling the duties of company accountant, salesman, marketer, dishwasher, and occasional graphic designer. Visitors can tour the bubbling copper workshop during the day, and share beauty tips with Ruger, the German wirehaired pointer who gave the company its name.