Koval Distillery making organic, artisanal spirits in Ravenswood
Fox32 Chicago / September 5, 2025 Koval Distillery in Ravenswood has some award winning organic spirits and the Co-founder and President Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart is here to tell us all about it. View More Here.
One couple's life-changing move is behind one of the best distilleries in Chicago
Newsbreak / July 9, 2025 Nestled along Ravenswood Avenue in Chicago’s North Side is a distillery whose name carries generations of meaning, a vision for innovation, and a deep familial legacy. KOVAL Distillery, founded in 2008, wasn’t just created to make spirits—it was forged from the dreams of a husband and wife duo who were ready to build something bold, beautiful, and entirely their own. Read More Here.
KOVAL: First Chicago Distillery Since Prohibition
WGN9 Spotlight Chicago / by Sarah Jindra, Ji Suk Yi / June 17, 2025 It’s the first distillery to open in Chicago since prohibition! “Koval” is known around the world for its bright, approachable flavors and unprecedented creativity and design. Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart joins us with more. koval-distillery.comView More Here.
Spend a Day Brewery Hopping Along Chicago's Malt Row
MidwestLiving / by Amy Bizzarri / May 12, 2025 Pour yourself a pint: We're going to start with a story. In 1841, one of Chicago’s original breweries, Lill and Diversy, introduced Lill’s Cream Ale, a beer so popular that by 1857, the brewery had grown into the largest west of the Atlantic Seaboard. By 1900, the Windy City was home to about 60 beer-makers. Today there are more than 160—and you’ll find some of the best concentrated in and around the near north-side neighborhood of Ravenswood. Read More
Koval Rolls Out New Line Of Limited-Run Luxury Craft Spirits
Block Club Chicago / by Alex V. Hernandez / February 12, 2025 RAVENSWOOD — Koval’s new luxury line features a bottle celebrating the ingredients used to craft the Ravenswood distillery’s award-winning spirits. Founded in 2008 by Sonat Birnecker Hart and Robert Birnecker, Koval became the first distillery in Chicago since Prohibition ended. The distiller’s new line, Thresh & Winnow, features limited-edition whiskeys and Japanese botanical-inspired gins. “We wanted to have a really high-end line,”
The Story of Ravenswood
WTTW Chicago by "L" / by Daniel Hautzinger / January 2025 Chicago neighborhood names can be tricky; Ravenswood is a perfect example of that. For a long time, what many people today consider Lincoln Square was known only as Ravenswood. The Ravenswood elevated train, now the Brown Line, has stops in Ravenswood at Montrose and Damen but extends all the way to Albany Park. And Ravenswood Manor? Not part of Ravenswood – it falls into Lincoln Square and Albany Park. Ravenswood began as an exclusive commuter
From the Makers of KOVAL, Comes Thresh & Winnow, a New Line of Ultra Premium and Limited Spirits
Chicago Food Magazine / September 17, 2024 Available late September, Thresh & Winnow will debut with a limited edition 10-Year-Old Rye Whiskey, and a Single Malt Whiskey. The whiskies will be followed in October by two gins, Foret and Citrine, inspired by Japan’s celebrated flavors of Shiso and Yuzu respectively. Thresh & Winnow Organic 10-Year-Old 100% Rye Whiskey is a whiskey crafted from organic rye that has aged in the Midwest. Its nose is a mix of freshly cracked pepper and sun dried apricot,
