Galavant Spirits to Open New Distillery at Nottingham and East Warren

This time of year, when the ground is buried in layers of snow and the wind is so cold it pains to look into it, there is nothing more appealing than the thought of warm Michigan summer weather. Think sitting outside in the garden, the sun on your face, surrounded by community, with a cold drink in hand.

Well, this year, we will have a new spot to experience just that, over at the corner of Nottingham and East Warren.

Have you noticed that giant pile of dirt at the end of Nottingham in recent weeks? Well, by summer, owner Ian Redmond of Detroit has big plans to open his first distillery there, called Galavant Spirits.

Redmond has been in the food and beverage industry for a long time, working in a variety of locations across Metro Detroit.

“I have 25 years of restaurant experience, and I have run several places,” said Redmond. “Before that, I was a cocktail bartender for a long time, and through that experience, you just want control over all the ingredients, and how to bottle them up to make the best combinations, so how else better to do that than to make the spirits themselves?”

True to its neighborhood roots, Galavant Spirits plans to source ingredients as locally as possible, including from a garden planted right out front of the distillery. Redmond hopes to use herbs and botanicals grown on-site, along with ingredients from other nearby neighborhood gardens, to flavor his small-batch gin and vodka.

The idea is to let the seasons—and the community—shape what ends up in the bottle, creating spirits that quite literally reflect the place they’re made.

“I hate all the chemically and artificially altered stuff, and there is just too much of that going around right now,” said Redmond. “We have a passion for doing it right. Not the fast way, and not cutting corners for the sake of it.”

But Galavant Spirits is about more than what’s in the glass. The space is being designed as a place to gather. In addition to the distillery itself, the site will include a take-out kitchen serving scratch-made food and a spacious outdoor seating area, adding an inviting new corner where neighbors can meet up, linger, and enjoy long summer evenings together.

“We want a vibrant community space that you can just pop in, grab a sandwich, and chill out here at dusk and have conversations with friends and neighbors outdoors,” said Redmond.

For Morningside residents, the project feels like another sign of momentum along East Warren. A once-vacant lot is being transformed into a destination that brings activity, foot traffic, and new energy to the neighborhood, while still feeling rooted in the community it serves. Redmond, a Detroit resident himself, says he’s excited to open his first distillery here and become part of the fabric of the area.

If all goes according to plan, Galavant Spirits will open by summer, just in time for patio season. So the next time you pass that towering mound of dirt at Nottingham and East Warren, picture it instead as a sun-filled gathering spot, glasses clinking, music humming, and neighbors toasting to warm weather finally returned.

Cocktail tip from Ian: “Negronis are my go-to cocktail, I have done many variations over the years, and I love to use Gran Classico instead of Campari, so it's more of an orange bitter flavor.”