When Take Flight Spirits opened in August in downtown Skokie, Illinois, owners Andrew and Carrie Cole had two main goals: They wanted to work together and to lift the spirits of the area. They are accomplishing both.

Take Flight Spirits is a distill pub, following the brew pub model of limited-release spirits only available in the tasting room. Because they are one of only 12 facilities in Illinois with a distill pub license, they can sell beer, wine and a full cocktail menu.

Photo courtesy of Take Flight Spirits.

It has been a dream of the Coles for a while. Originally, Andrew wanted to open a brewery, while Carrie was interested in spirits. When the pandemic hit, they decided to give it a try.

Photo courtesy of Take Flight Spirits.

Currently they have rum, gin-barrel-aged rum, bourbon and the recently finished first batch of malt whiskey. They are working on Irish-style whiskey, a range of whiskeys and barrel-aged gin. They are experimenting with beer spirits, taking beer from local breweries and distilling it to turn it into a spirit.

Photo courtesy of Take Flight Spirits.

They bottle everything on site, selling un-aged rum and gin. Recently they started selling prepackaged cocktails. As the inventory increases, bottled spirits will be available for purchase.

Photo courtesy of Take Flight Spirits.

Take Flight’s tasting room includes cocktails and flights. Along with the beverages, charcuterie trays from next door’s Kneads and Wants are available. On Thursday nights Kneads and Wants provides milkshakes for Take Flight to punch up with a shot of rum or gin. Outside food from any of the great area restaurants is allowed.

Photo courtesy of Take Flight Spirits.

They recently started offering cocktail-making classes. I look forward to trying my hand at this skill in the near future.

Take Flight Spirits is an exciting addition to the area. Its casual, fun atmosphere allows for a relaxing evening of beverage tasting alone or with friends.

— John Wroblewski, online writer