With no more than a taste for good drink, brothers set out to revive a long-gone tradition while juggling their day jobs
Christopher Cook, Mark Troxler and Jon Cook of Blackwater Distilling plan to start producing Sloop Betty Vodka in March. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)
By Jill Rosen, (The Baltimore Sun, 2/20/2011)
Christopher and Jonathan Cook are too young to remember the glory days of local liquor, when the unmistakable perfume of Maryland rye wafted over parts of Baltimore, when the sturdy spirit enjoyed status as the real man’s drink of the Chesapeake.
Even so, the brothers, who grew up on the Eastern Shore, are the best hope of reviving Maryland’s lost tradition.
The Cooks are poised to become the state’s first distillers in nearly 40 years, as they blend and bottle a recipe for a premium wheat vodka they’re calling Sloop Betty. The brothers know they are rewriting a chapter in Maryland history, even as they quench regional cocktail enthusiasts’ thirst for artisanal spirits and fulfill a dream shared by countless deskbound professionals — to use their hands to create something real.
“There’s something about bringing that industry back that means something,” Christopher Cook says. “There’s a level of pride.”
The Cooks, who both have federal government day jobs, have been working nights, weekends and holidays on their plan for seven years. In spring 2004, the two had been kicking around the idea of opening a restaurant. After one location fell through, Jonathan Cook, who’s 33, was fooling around online, calling up pictures of random relics on the Maryland state archives website. He came across photos of dusty, beaten-up whiskey bottles, remains from the state’s long-shuttered distilleries. He all but got chills.
Continue reading “After Nearly 40 Years, Distilling Returns To Maryland” at The Baltimore Sun.
Related Links