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Taking a shot at the Vodka business

By Mike Nolan

Friday, June 20, 2008

Three years ago Cory Brock’s phone rang. He heard the voice of his friend Josh Burnett, who was in Lynchburg, Tenn., at the Jack Daniels factory, the headquarters of the world famous whiskey.

Burnett learned in Tennessee that Jack Daniels started making his own whiskey as a teenager. He was inspired to call Brock. Maybe it seemed ridiculous or maybe the “I can do anything” bug bit him, but when Brock answered his phone in Kansas, Burnett asked him to be a partner in the whiskey-making business.

When Brock received Burnett’s phone call he loved the idea of making alcohol, but he recommended that they make vodka instead.

“Josh likes to drink whiskey so he said whiskey,” Brock, a KU alumnus, said. “Me, I am more of a vodka drinker so I said let’s make vodka.”

What started as a phone call has grown into Honor Distilling, a Lawrence company that produces and bottles vodka. The popularity of the vodka is growing and spreading to neighboring states.

Brock had a more scientific reason for encouraging Burnett to try making vodka instead. Whiskey needs to be aged in a charred barrel, while vodka only needs to be distilled and mixed with purified water.

The two settled on vodka and started researching. Brock said he found information in multiple places, and after three years of research with trial and error he finalized a recipe. Brock called the final product Honor Vodka, which is also the name of his company.

“Honestly, our recipe and our process is a conglomerate of tons of research,” Brock said.

Their recipe consists of a corn and wheat blend, which is distilled with 100 percent grain alcohol and then mixed with purified water.

Brock said the Midwest made for a good place to distill vodka because of the abundance of grains.

“We chose corn and wheat, but you can actually use any grain product to make vodka,” Brock said.

The process did not come easy. Brock said he and Burnett did not get it right on the first try or even the 50th try.

“We were scared of the first batch,” Brock said. “We looked at each other like I’m not drinking that.”

Sixty-three tries later, Brock finalized his recipe, which got bottled and put on the shelves.

Brock, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002 with a business degree, knew soon after college that corporate America was not for him. He moved to Minnesota and worked for a mortgage broker, but the job did not motivate him.

“I always knew I wanted to own my own business,” said the 30-year-old Brock.

During college he managed the Jayhawk Café, also known as The Hawk, and bartended at the Ranch. After working in Minnesota he owned a company that did promotional work for the Dallas-based alcohol-distributing company Glazer’s.

These experiences gave Brock confidence that if he could make a good product, he knew enough people in the industry to get the product in the stores and bars.

“The thing about starting your own business is that you have to have a lot of people that are willing to help you out,” Brock said.

In order to even begin Honor Distilling, Brock and Burnett filled out a mountain of paper work to gain a federal and state license to produce alcohol. They do not have a license to sell alcohol, so they sell to the distributor Glazer’s, which then sells Honor to liquor stores.

Brock said the whole project went further than he ever thought.

“It was just a hobby that got out of control,” Brock said.

In just two months of operation, Honor has already spread from Lawrence into Missouri and received good reviews.

Dan Blomgren, owner of the Cork & Barrel liquor stores, said Honor is better than comparably prices vodkas.

“I did a taste test at Quinton’s and Honor beat Absolut and Skyy hands down,” Blomgren said.

Brock and Burnett are working on getting a patent for their process, which Brock thinks will take the company to a new level.

— Edited by Rustin Dodd

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