Made In Chicago: Wondertucky Distillery & Bottling
(CBS) -- David Cunningham began his love for science, and distilling during a 7th grade science project.
"I've always loved science and physics," he said. "I did a science fair project when I was 12 or 13 years old. There was a gas crunch going on. Then it was called Gasohol. They'd been using ethanol to fuel automobiles. It was fascinating to me. I never got it right. I was distilling water and then later started distilling spirits."
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Little did he know he'd grow up to make a living doing it. He now runs McHenry County's first ever legal distillery.
"We are a craft, boutique distillery," Cunningham said. "We manufacture top shelve, hand crafted, fine spirits and other types of spirits also."
Wondertucky bourbon is created and distilled in a small, 2,000 square foot space in Woodstock.
"The Wondertucky Corn Whiskey, the Wondertucky Shine is a recipe I've been making since I was 13 years old," Cunningham said. "It's the same recipe. The name is a slang term for a town here in the Northwest Suburbs called Wonder Lake. I wanted a name that the locals to relate to but then make it universal. Now that we are making bourbon, we attached ourselves to the wonderful state of Kentucky, the bourbon capital of the world."
A giant still, wooden barrels and stacks of boxes filled with bottles make up his office.
"We do all the bottling, the labeling," Cunningham said. "We still do distilling here. We do aging, we do the bourbon aging here. I taste all the product before it leaves the warehouse."
He established the company in 2011 but just started distributing in the last four months.
"It took that long to get the right government licenses," Cunningham said.
Now Wondertucky is in over 40 liquor store chains and bars across northern Illinois.
"We are in 25 different Binny's locations, multiple bars in McHenry, Lake and Cook counties," he said.
Cunningham joins about 20 other craft distilleries in the state.
"Its a difficult business to get into because it's highly regulated."
Still a small company, but growing by the day, Cunningham said the demand for Wondertucky got so great, he had to outsource his distribution but he says he has grand plans.
"We're going through about 1,000-16,000 bottles a month now. I'd love to hit the European market within five years. That's a big goal."
His ultimate goal: A bar and tasting room with tours of the distillery.
"That would be cool to have something like that for consumers." "Did you ever think you'd do this when you were creating your 7th grade science project? Never in a million years did I think this would be the course I would've taken in life," he laughed.
For more information, visit wondertuckydistillery.com.
