About Us – Doundrins Distilling

Doundrins’ story starts some years ago while Nick attended the University of Wisconsin for Chemical Engineering. While going to school, Nick took up an interest in craft beer and worked at a local brewpub. That is where he started having dreams of one day owning his own brewery. Abby was also studying Chemical Engineering at Iowa State University.

Eventually, Nick decided to study abroad in Spain. That is where he and Abby met. They connected on their family and Midwest values, engineering nerdyness, and it was all a whirlwind from there. Nick graduated, Abby graduated, and they moved to Texas where they both worked as chemical engineers.

Time passed, they got engaged, and soon felt it was better to be closer to family. So they both took jobs in Illinois working in an ethanol plant. During their time there they learned a lot about the beverage distillation process. While in Illinois they got married and had their first child. Then it was time to get even closer to family. Madison seemed like the most logical step as it was right in between both Nick and Abby’s parents and Nick loved it when he went to school there.

Nick still had dreams to one day build his own business and with his love of home brewing and Madison’s craft beverage culture, they started talking again about those dreams. That is where the flame was sparked to start a distillery instead of a brewery. They talked about it A LOT, met with other local distillers, did lots of research, and went back and forth for 3 months. Finally, they decided to take the leap in January of 2018 to at least try! Their goal was to produce the highest quality craft product-no skimping on the main ingredients-but at a more affordable price point. Second, they had a desire to enhance the surrounding community by sourcing local products whenever possible, being involved in community events, and partnering with other local small businesses.

After 11 months of searching, they found their current location in Cottage Grove and the fit couldn’t have been better! Since starting this venture they have grown immensely and the journey has been full of ups and downs! The Abramovich family welcomed their second child in 2018, built the production suite and the Tasting Room in early 2019, did a soft opening starting Aug. 31st 2019, held a grand opening party Nov. 23rd 2019, and have since released over 25 different products in the 2.5 years since starting production. In 2020 they made close to 500,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and built and opened an 11,000 square foot outdoor Cocktail Garden. In 2021, Doundrins partnered with 5 additional distributors. Doundrins is now sold in over 650 locations spread throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.

Hi I’m Nick! I grew up in Wisconsin where I went to high school in Slinger, and then went on to college at UW-Madison for chemical engineering. During my last summer in college, I studied abroad in Spain where I met my wife Abby who was in the same course through Iowa State. After graduation, I worked in the oil industry in Oklahoma, and Canada before making my way to Texas. After a time, Abby and I decided to move back to the Midwest to be closer to family, so we found jobs at a corn ethanol plant and settled in Illinois. We got married and had our first son Byron. My dream was always to get back to the Madison area and we were able to do that in 2017. Now we are back in the great state of Wisconsin, living in Stoughton. During this business start up, Abby and I also had our 2nd child – Clara.

Outside of spending time with our energetic children, I enjoy brewing beer, and, of course, sampling the great local craft brews, food, and spirits in the Madison area. I also enjoy spending time outside and tinkering with various DIY projects like my homemade trellis for, what else, hops for beer making. I also love skiing and hope to be able to start doing that again more in the future.

I have over 10 years of experience in engineering in both small and large companies. I have worked in a wide variety of sectors including petrol chemicals, ethanol, and polyurethane foam manufacturing, with a specialization in project development and management. I also have experience in the food service industry from my college days as a server. I enjoy working with the people around me and look forward to building a business that will help the community thrive.

Hello all, I’m Abby! I grew up in a small town in eastern Iowa. I then went to Iowa State to study chemical engineering. While studying abroad in Spain, I met my future husband, Nick. If you read Nick’s bio, you see where this is going… I found a job in Texas after graduating, and moved south to meet up with Nick. After awhile we wanted to be closer to home to raise a family. We moved to Illinois, where I worked in the distillation department making beverage ethanol – basically high proof vodka – but on an industrial scale. While living in Illinois, our first child was born: Byron. He is a happy 5 year old, who has an obsession with learning how everything works and is always building something. Signs of a young engineer already? Only time will tell. In 2017 we moved to the Madison area and settled in Stoughton. We had our second child, Clara, in Nov. 2018. Time has flown by and she is already 3 (going on 15)!

Along the way, Nick and I got 2 dogs, traveled internationally a lot, and got SCUBA certified. I also like to express my creativity through photography, so I started a portrait photography business back in 2015. In 2018 I added a branch to my business that combines photography with nerdiness and creativity when I started going to conventions to photograph cosplayers and I loved it so much! Since starting the distillery, my photography business had to take a back burner. I still love to take product and cocktail pictures for the distillery to get out that creativity! I also like to garden – both vegetables and flowers and in the last 3 years have become entrenched in houseplant community.

I have over 9 years of chemical engineering experience ranging from continuous industrial scale to batch operations like will be used in the distillery. I have extensive operational optimization and troubleshooting experience, as well as large-scale capital project management experience. I also bring a creative background and experience in starting up a small business, both gained from my photography business. I am loving all this small-scale distilling and am excited to continue to partner with individuals and other small businesses in the community.