Matt and Martha Share a Similar Heritage
Matt Ellenthal
My grandfather, Alexander Ellenthal, was born in a bathtub in New York City in 1899. He was better known as Slootie, a nickname that came from his mispronunciation of the name of a factory in lower Manhattan.
Slootie didn’t make bathtub gin, but he did run a speakeasy after Prohibition began in 1919, resorting to bootlegging to supply quality liquor to his patrons.
He often traveled to coastlines and the Canadian border to receive the smuggled liquor and run it back to his Manhattan club. There were stories about him waiting in the dark on the shoreline for boats to show up, not knowing whether the smugglers or the feds would be on board. And, of course, there were multiple stories of high-speed car chases and the exchange of gunfire with authorities. Slootie was not one to tell tall tales, so everyone in the family believed him.
A former undefeated bantamweight prizefighter, Slootie’s attracted clientele made up mostly of newspapermen and gangsters. His speakeasy was called the 33 Club, not because he knew that the 21st Amendment would repeal prohibition in 1933, but because that was the street address. My grandfather had this to say about his speakeasy ownership: “I had a rule that banned the use of firearms inside my place. Anyone who violated this rule would never again be allowed inside. The gangsters who frequented the 33 Club respected me and always settled their grievances outside.”
Drinking was for his customers, not for him, my grandfather said. "I never touched a drop in my place and I rarely imbibed when I was elsewhere." Then again, maybe it would have been different if our Barrelsmith brand of barrel-aged craft cocktails had been around.
Martha Outlaw
With a name like Outlaw, it was no surprise to learn about my black sheep ancestor, Great Uncle Rob.
Like many farmers of the early 1900’s, Uncle Rob was a moonshiner. It was common practice to turn excess perishable crops like corn into whiskey to sell, without paying the taxman. Whatever chance the family had to overlook Rob's unsavory endeavors ended when he got shot and killed by an employee (and tenant) on his farm. The story of his killer’s trial dominated the news for months. While Rob’s moonshining activities were never mentioned, there were frequent references to immorality between Rob and the employee's wife. Not the kind of publicity that a reputable family welcomes.
Although Rob wasn't the only farmer with a still on his property, he stood out as the reprobate in a prominent family that included John Sevier, the first governor of Tennesse. I was more surprised to learn of a 1788 arrest warrant for Sevier. Sevier was charged with attacking a store owner who claimed to have no liquor to sell to him and his compatriots. He got out of that one and went on to serve another term as governor!
All of this was unknown to me at 13 when, with help from my father, I crafted a working copper still and, much to the chagrin of my teachers, entered it into my school science fair.
Luckily, I was neither arrested nor shot.
Maybe we will create a Barrelsmith Rob Roy cocktail, named after yet another famous ancestor named Rob who was known as the “Robin Hood” of Scotland for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But that is another story…
