Iconic Wisconsin retreat creates new bourbon with CH Distillery
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Camp Wandawega's new bourbon 100 Years of Summer. Photo: Courtesy of Camp Wandawega.
A rural Wisconsin retreat that served as a "house of ill repute" during Prohibition is returning to its roots.
- This time it's legal.
The big picture: Camp Wandawega is a 100-year-old resort in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, used for company retreats, brand photoshoots, weddings and quiet getaways.
- Wandawega's unofficial slogan is: "Not new. Not improved. Since 1925."
Driving the news: To celebrate the centennial, owners Tereasa Surratt and David Hernandez have created a bourbon called 100 Years of Summer with Chicago's CH Distillery. It will initially be sold at Foxtrot, possibly as soon as the next few weeks.
- Wandawega also just obtained a Wisconsin liquor license so camp visitors can buy the bourbon and other drinks legally, rather than knock twice for secret entry like they did during Prohibition.
- Surratt and Hernandez are planning to open a new shop called the Bureau of Tourism in West Town this summer to sell apparel and home goods and also serve as an events space.
Flashback: In its early days, Wandawega was a speakeasy for locals, a bootlegging operation and a escape for people on the run.
- Over the decades, it went through several owners and iterations, including serving as a Catholic Church-run vacation spot for Latvian refugees living in Chicago after World War II.
- Surratt and Hernandez bought the property in 2003 to restore some of the memories Hernandez had from childhood summers there.
What they're saying: "Very few examples exist of these really humble, blue-collar Midwestern resorts that haven't been bastardized over the years by people coming in and, quote, unquote, trying to make it better or bigger or fancier," Surratt tells Axios.
- Authenticity is the draw. "Camp Wandawega has evolved, not so much as an Airbnb destination in the sea of sameness with glamping resorts popping up everywhere you look … we don't even play in that sandbox."
- "We have something called the 'manifesto of low expectations.' There's absolutely nature inside and outside every cabin, which is bugs and snakes and raccoons, there's no locks on the doors and no air conditioning," Surratt says.