REGION: Illinois

Based in Thornton, Illinois, Apologue specializes in the sweet and spirited art of liqueur production, with a mind towards sustainability and community. Each liqueur they make strikes a balance between fruit, root, herb, and bark, resulting in deeply complex and regionally specific spirits.

Learning to combine flavors behind the bar—particularly the herbs and spices which lend depth to gin—Chicago-based Brenton Engel founded Letherbee Distillers, which released its flagship gin in the spring of 2012 and has quickly grown with the addition of other herbaceous and aromatic spirits.