Few Spirits, Evanston, IL

Evanston was once a very dry city. 

Few's owner Paul Hletko, is single handedly putting a big dent in that idea with a full line of fancy pants hand crafted, mouth tested spirits ranging from "white dog" moon shine (white whiskey) to gin to bourbon and rye.  And the dent is kind of big and intentional when you look at it. 

In fact F.E.W. are the initials of a an American prohibitionist from Evanston, who may have made it rough for Hletko's grandfather to ever re-establish a brewery here after leaving what's now the Czech Republic under Germany's tyranny, when 37-40 of his relatives were slain.  Alfred Dube did go on to become "the father of modern dinnerware" in the ceramics biz, if my googling is correct, while his grandson Paul has gone full speed back the other way in tribute to Dube (to the booze biz, after a career as a Patent lawyer). 

FEW's products are relatively low in corn (60%), high in wheat and or rye, barely and botanicals.  And one can taste that on first sniff through last gulp. "Smooth" is what most folks on the tour report. Not much heat or bitter spice toward the back of the mouth here.  Even Few's shine is sweet and most active up front on the tip of tongue's tipit.      

So what Hleltko is pouring out from FEW are great examples of high quality sipping spirits, not so much the kind of low grade, cheap rail hooch most suitable for mixed drinks that were designed during prohibition to mask the foul flavors of more readily available Bathtub gin, if not make drunk women and men puke outside bars on those Northside curbs for not being able to taste ethanol's bite over sugar profiles of these sweet coacktails on their way down (both the booze and the drinkers).