Market Watch, March 1, 2017
Distillers are used to hearing stories about how their spirits bring people together for celebrations and parties Paul Hletko founder of FEW Spirits in Evan ston Illinois once met a man who claimed FEWs Bourbon ended a decades long estrangement from his father He happened to have a sip of our whiskey and decided his dad would love it Hletko recounts After 30 years of not speak ing to his father he called him up Seven days later they were together They split a bottle of whiskey and now they talk every week This effect might be unusual for a Bourbon consumer but its right in line with Hletkos reasons for founding FEW Spirits which is named for Illinois temperance leader Frances Elizabeth Willard His grandfather had been a brewer in Czechoslovakia before World War II but lost everything including his family in the Holocaust He later emigrated to the United States When he died it struck me that if I didnt do something his legacy was all gone and I didnt want that to happen Hletko says of his decision to leave his career as an attorney and become a distiller FEW is a business and I intend to make money a lot of money Im not ashamed of that But I do all these things also because of passion creativity and art Its part of my blood Other distilleries are just a business and thats great but I cant imagine how much more difficult it is to overcome all the obstacles if youre just trying to make a buck Hletko hasnt let the challenges of running a start up distillery stand in his way In the nearly six years since FEWs founding he has managed to not only produce high quality spirits and sustain strong growth rates hes also forged a partnership to take his business from craft sized volumes to a much more 80 MARKET WATCH MARKETWATCHMAG COM MARCH 2017Through a strategic partnership Evanston Illinois based FEW Spirits is aiming for major growthBy Susannah Skiver BartonSet Up SucceedLEFT to RIGHT Strawberry Shake jpg few 7102 tif few_ 0314 7741 jpg four line caption goes here tk line caption goes here tk line caption goesMW0317_
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