Wisconsin’s Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa made history when tribal members Curtis and Linda Basina launched Copper Crow Distillery in 2018. The husband-and-wife team became the first Native Americans to make distilled spirits on a reservation in nearly 200 years. To do it, they first had to overcome racist federal laws. The U.S. government passed statutes banning the production and sale of alcoholic beverages on Native American lands in 1834. While most were repealed, making liquor remained illegal until December 2018. The Basinas learned about the ban while…
