How We Got here…
My Journey into American Whiskey: Road Trip
By Poppy Bruce Potash
Over the past few years, I have had the good fortune to visit 30 distilleries and a glass bottle company. Truth be told, I have never been on a bad tour. How is that possible? Let me tell you. From my online social groups of whiskey enthusiasts to the people working throughout the industry, I meet the nicest people.
At each distillery, I encounter individuals who have been in the industry for less than a year, as well as Master Distillers with family legacies spanning eight generations. At some Distilleries, new hires are required to complete the Stave and Thief Society class or attend Whiskey University online classes. Then, of course there are the seasoned pros-individuals who have pursued formal education and spent decades mastering their craft. These professionals typically do not give tours, but because I work in the industry, I occasionally get to peek behind the curtain. That is when I get a masterclass in Bourbon and Whiskey. So, thank you to the newbies that remind me of things I may have forgotten or over looked and of course to the Master Distillers, Master Tasters and Master Blenders for sharing their insights and knowledge.
Family History in Whiskey
The Potash family has a long history in the world of distilled spirits. My grandfather, Benjamin, began as a potato farmer in Poland and later in Ukraine. He quickly discovered that distilling his potatoes into spirits made them easier to sell, easier to transport—and far more profitable than farming. However, it wasn’t long before his success attracted unwanted attention from local authorities. Fortunately, Benjamin had saved enough money to make a quick exit.
He brought the family to Brooklyn, New York, where an established community of immigrants from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine offered familiarity and support. Sadly, Grandpa Benjamin passed away only a few years after arriving in America.
Like many Eastern European immigrants in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century, my father left school in his mid-teens to help support the family. Opportunities were scarce for immigrant families during those early years.
By the early 1920s, my father Joe, aka Joe Botched, aka Old Joe and his friends recognized a unique business opportunity, bootlegging: the community still wanted to drink whiskey, but the U.S. government had just made that illegal with Prohibition. As it happened, this tight-knit immigrant community had extended family and friends across the U.S. and Canada.
The Canadian Connection
The 18th Amendment, Prohibition, was the law of the land. But the people were not having it. Special licenses were issued to doctors, pharmacists and even veterinarians to prescribe Alcohol. A pint was legally prescribed every two weeks for 25 illnesses the government deemed curable with alcohol. Whiskey was coming into the country by boat from Cuba and Europe, Appalachian Moonshiners were driving fast cars with big engines and super suspensions, to outrun authorities. The demand for whiskey was high. My Dad, aka Old Joe, aka Joe Botched was a bootlegger from 1926 to 1933. Dad and his friends drove trucks up to Canada, filled them with legally produced Canadian Whiskey and drove back to Brooklyn, NY to supply local speakeasies.
Business was good…..Very good. The group prospered throughout the Prohibition years.
As the son of immigrants, I’d like to take a moment to thank the Temperance movement and the U.S. Congress for the 18th Amendment, better known as Prohibition. It created remarkable opportunities for hardworking immigrant families across the country between 1919 and 1933.
As you can see, our family has been involved in the whiskey business one way or another for over 120 years.