Chicago Tribune 9-06
On an industrial stretch of Ravenswood just south of Foster sits Koval Distillery, the city's lone craft distillery -- and only the second in Illinois.
Though Koval's husband-and-wife owners, Robert and Sonat Birnecker, are following a family tradition -- Robert's Austrian grandparents have been distilling spirits and liqueurs for more than 40 years -- they took a circuitous, academia-filled path via Oxford, Berlin and Washington, D.C., to get there. (Before embarking on their current venture, Sonat was a Baltimore Hebrew University professor and Robert was an Austrian embassy spokesman.)
To read more please go to
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0906-drink-kovalsep06,0,2418038.story
Though Koval's husband-and-wife owners, Robert and Sonat Birnecker, are following a family tradition -- Robert's Austrian grandparents have been distilling spirits and liqueurs for more than 40 years -- they took a circuitous, academia-filled path via Oxford, Berlin and Washington, D.C., to get there. (Before embarking on their current venture, Sonat was a Baltimore Hebrew University professor and Robert was an Austrian embassy spokesman.)
To read more please go to
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0906-drink-kovalsep06,0,2418038.story
