The "you should sell this" moment for Death's Door's founder, Brian Ellison, came in early 2008 when he was preparing to age some red-winter-wheat-based distillate. A small Chicago distributor thought the raw liquor was so good he asked for 50 cases as is, and quickly found buyers.
"I always thought at some point people would get tired of it," Mr. Ellison said. Instead, Death's Door has sold more white whiskey in the first quarter of this year than it did in all of last year.
