Brooklyn Park Distillery Perseveres Through Owner’s Lung Disease
In a nondescript office complex in Brooklyn Park, Tyson Schnitker stays busy bottling beverages.
On a recent Friday, he was bottling dozens and dozens of bottles of Red Locks Irish Whiskey.
“So all this stuff used to be made in, I believe in Kentucky is where it was all bottled,” he said.
Bottling for other companies is one of the newer revenue-generating ventures for Schnitker, who founded Skaalvenn Distillery in 2014.
“It’s been a wild 10 years,” said Schnitker.
Since launching 10 years ago, Skallvenn now has a line of spirits that are sold in more than 400 liquor stores throughout Minnesota.
“We make a little bit more product at a lower price point to be competitive with those brands that have multiple, multi-million dollar budgets just for the state of Minnesota, just in advertising,” said Schnitker.
In 2020, Schnitker opened the Skaalvenn cocktail lounge, which has played a vital role in helping to introduce people to their products.
“I’ve met thousands and thousands of people and that’s really cool, just seeing when people walk in through the door and they’re like ‘wow,’ or they’re leaving and they tell me ‘hey this was this was really incredible,’” he said.
However, owning any business comes with challenges.
Tyson Schnitker is the owner of Skaalvenn Distillery.
“It’s been really tough,” he said. “We’re by no means making a bunch of money or anything like that. I’m still rolling the majority of income right back into the company.”
Moving forward
But Schnitker may now be facing his biggest challenge yet. In February, the 42-year-old non-smoker was diagnosed with lung disease.
“My future is a little bit unknown. Even the doctors don’t know what my future prognosis is, if I’ll be around 20+ years, or a few months from now I’ll suddenly need a double lung transplant,” he said. “The disease is very unpredictable.”
The good news is that he has a decent health insurance plan, and it’s the same plan he provides for his employees.
“I’m very thankful that I’ve got a zero deductible plan, $3,700 maximum out of pocket,” said Schnitker.
Meanwhile, as Schnitker works through his health issues, his personal plea to folks is to not only support local businesses, but ones that offer good health insurance to its staff members.
“Support your local company that really cares about its employees and the local community,” he said.
Schnitker’s wife, Mary, is handling a lot of the day-to-day operations as he slows down his workload. But Skaalvenn is still going strong. The company just released a new gin flavored with the Japanese citrus fruit, yuzu.
The Skaalvenn Distillery Cocktail Lounge opened in 2020.
Related: Skaalvenn Distillery Opens Cocktail Room, ‘There’s Nothing Like This in Brooklyn Park’
