PEOPLE
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
59
Taking a shot at the Vodka business
2002 KU graduate Cory Brock, and partner Josh Burnett, are turning heads by producing Honor Vodka right here in Lawrence.
BY MIKE NOLAN
mnolan@kansan.com
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. 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 Vodk, which is also the name of his company.
"Honestly, our recipe and our process is a conglomerate of tons of research," Brock said.
Sixty-three tries later, Brock finalized his recipe, which got bottled and put on the shelves.
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.
"We were scared of the first batch," Brock said. "We looked at each other like I'm not drinking that."
Brock, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002 with a
The process didn't come easy. Brock said he and Burnett didn't get it right on the first try or even the 50th try.
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 Cafe, 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.
"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.
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.
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 "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
Gamer'Nutt'attempts to recreate the feel of old-school arcades
Lawrence resident Gene Nutt has turned the second floor of his store, Game Nut, into a palace for area gamers.
BY MIKE NOLAN
mnolan@kansan.com
Gene Nutt used to drive more than an hour from his hometown of New London, Mo., to the nearest mall to do what he loved most: play video games. Fast-forward a couple decades and Nutt has turned a childhood passion into a livelihood and is attempting to bring the dying breed of arcades back to life in Lawrence.
As the owner of Game Nut, 844 Massachusetts St., Nutt's attempt at recreating the feel of a video game arcade turned into a reality during the past six months.
Nutt entered the video game
industry in 1990 working at Software Etc., a now obsolete video game chain. He then worked in management at EB Games before realizing he could go into business for himself.
"After watching someone else do something for long enough, you learn how to do it yourself," Nutt said. "It's simple, buy low and sell high."
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