Some good news for those of you who are looking for well-made craft spirits that actually deliver on what they promise. FEW Spirits, based in Evanston, Illinois, is expanding to four more states, bringing their distribution to a total of 20 states, as well as Washington, D.C. (The brand is also distributed in the UK, throughout Europe, and in select locations in Australia, Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong.)

FEW makes gins, whiskies and other craft spirits, which we have found to be generally of very high quality. You can read our review of FEW Spirits Rye Whiskey, and also see where FEW American Gin placed in our Gin and Tonic Taste Test.

FEW likes to call themselves a grain-to-glass producer. They source their ingredients from as close to their distillery as possible, and do all fermentation, distillation, aging, and bottling on-site. As founder and master distiller Paul Hletko explains, “If we can’t grow it ourselves, we buy it locally. And if we can’t buy it locally, we buy it from friends.”

On a side note, FEW is of special interest to me as a historian, as Evanston is the location of the headquarters of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (an organization which, surprisingly enough, continues to this day). Evanston was also the longtime home of suffragist and prohibitionist Frances Elizabeth Willard, whose initials were appropriated for the name of the company.

Well played, Mr. Hletko.