HE KEPT THE LIQUOR FLOWING
While serving time in prison, Tom Pendergast was asked by a
reporter why he didn’t enforce Prohibition in Kansas City. The
infamous political boss allegedly responded, “The people are thirsty.”
More than 70 years later, that notion fuels Tom’s Town Distilling Co.
The first distillery to open in downtown Kansas City since Prohibition,
the enterprise gleefully carries on the take-charge legacy of the
Pendergast era.
“Pendergast was a real-life Gatsby – the Gatsby of Kansas City,”
says David Epstein, who co-founded Tom’s Town with Steve Revare.
“Because of Pendergast, everything flourished: jazz, baseball, almost
anything cultural in K.C.”
Epstein believes modern patrons enjoy an authentic tale tied to the
spirits they’re drinking. Tom’s Town and its emphasis on Pendergast’s
polarizing reputation matches that profile.
“His message of irreverence, rebellion and play-by-your-own-rules
resonates on a nationwide scale,” Epstein says.
SPOTLIGHT ON KANSAS CITY
Pendergast controlled Kansas City for most of the 1920s and ’30s.
As chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Party (whose own
followers were nicknamed Goats while rivals were called Rabbits),
he employed a network of alliances spread throughout Missouri
and neighboring Kansas. From the mayor to the city manager to
an aspiring Senator named Harry Truman, politicians kowtowed to
Boss Tom, who distributed Depression-era jobs and much-needed
government contracts with the wave of his hand.
The biggest impact for Kansas Citians was that Pendergast kept the
liquor flowing during the 1920-1933 span of Prohibition. (Kansas
actually was a dry state all the way through 1948.)
“It’s a unique story,” Revare says. “The fact that there wasn’t a single
felony conviction for violating Prohibition was unheard of. That didn’t
happen anywhere else in the country.”
It was this atmosphere – replete with clubs, cabarets and dance halls
– that inspired a Midwestern newspaper editor to famously declare,
“If you want to see some sin, forget about Paris. Go to Kansas City.”
NEW ERA BEGINS
A more respectable version of that environment has returned to
Kansas City, exhibited everywhere from the widespread cultural and
material revitalization taking root in the center of the metropolis to
the overwhelming civic pride associated with the K.C. Royals’ World
Series victory.
“It’s unbelievable what’s happening downtown,” Revare says. “We
haven’t seen this level of national attention since Prohibition. The
city’s vitality is reflected in the attitude we bring to all our products.”
INTEGRAL PART OF THE CITY
Tom’s Town founders began their venture by selecting a location with
some history of its own. They chose a three-story, 15,000 square-foot
venue at 1701 Main that was built in 1907. It originally housed an
auto dealership, and then became a local institution as home to the
bygone Price Candy Company.
In addition to the new distilling operations that are open for public
tours, the revamped site now features a tasting room with small-plate
dining and a handsome second-floor event space that accommodates
up to 250 people.
Located in the heart of the vibrant Crossroads District, Tom’s Town
becomes the first downtown Kansas City distillery to operate since
Pendergast roamed the boulevards. The first legal one, anyway.
SPIRIT OF TOM’S TOWN
At the heart of every distillery, of course, is the product. And at Tom’s
Town, the craft spirits are named after eccentric personalities linked to
Pendergast’s reign.
“What we wanted to do was create the overarching story of Kansas
City with these individual characters representing each spirit,” Revare
explains.
Eli’s Strong Arm Vodka earns its name for Pendergast’s bodyguard
and gatekeeper, Elijah Matheus. A rough-hewn, former riverboat
captain who was “as likely to put his arm around you as punch you in
the throat,” his temperament is rendered on the bottle with a tonguein-cheek image showcasing rabbits being thrown overboard.
“These spirits are crafted a little differently by incorporating rye and
wheat, which fit in well with Kansas City,” says Revare. He’s even
harvesting rye grown on property owned by his family in Lone Jack,
Missouri, as one of the locally sourced components.
McElroy’s Corruption Gin’s namesake is shady city manager Henry
McElroy, who funneled construction projects to Pendergast via
his Ready Mixed Concrete Company. As the gorgeous old-school
architecture on the bottle symbolizes, the man “turned patronage
and graft into an art form.”
Tom’s Town also curates a line of small-batch whiskeys sold under
Pendergast’s original “Royal Gold” trademark. Just as Boss Tom
imported beverages from other states to be vended under his private
label, the inaugural batch of Pendergast’s Royal Gold Bourbon hails
from the heart of bourbon country.
The 10-year-old potion comes in an art deco vessel adorned with
iconography key to its namesake: racing horses, a swanky automobile
and prominent goat’s head.
The distillery’s own brands of whiskey and rum will soon follow.
“Everyone likes the glamour of this era,” Revare says. “We want you to
not only appreciate the brand and its personality, but also feel a part
of it.”
FAMILY CONNECTIONS
Revare and Epstein have remained friends since they were kids.
(“I believe we met in kindergarten,” Revare recalls. “Although he
was A.M. and I was P.M. – that really speaks volumes about our
1701 MAIN STREET, KANSAS CITY, MO 64108
816-541-2400
TOMS-TOWN.COM
relationship.”) Together, they’ve piloted a number of successful
business ventures, with Tom’s Town being their most ambitious
collaboration yet.
The two men tout their own connections to Pendergast. Revare’s
great-great-uncle, U.S. Attorney Maurice Milligan, sent Boss Tom to
prison for 15 months on the charge of tax evasion – for failing to
report a bribe, no less. Upon his release, Pendergast “retired” and
died a few years later in 1945.
(Then-Vice President Truman was the only elected official to attend
his funeral.) On the flip side of that type of contentious relationship
stood Epstein’s grandfather, Herman Epstein.
“I knew my grandfather was a malt dealer. I never knew what that
meant, and I never asked,” he says.
Now he understands that the more accurate term for malt dealer at
the time was bootlegger.
Turns out Herman was also part of the Democratic Party faction
nicknamed the Rabbits. As with most of Boss Tom’s enemies, Herman
and his fellow Rabbits got squeezed out of the marketplace. He died
penniless.
Beloved by some, feared by many and ignored by none, Pendergast
represents an undeniably integral piece of the city. That’s exactly the
type of impact – albeit a more positive one – that Tom’s Town hopes
to have on the social and cultural vibe of the resurgent Kansas City …
and parts beyond.
“Just as Tito’s does with Austin or Jack Daniel’s does with Tennessee,
we’d love to recreate Kansas City’s spirit in the Pendergast era and
resonate with the rest of the world,” Epstein adds.
ONE THING IS CERTAIN:
The people of Kansas City are still thirsty. And Tom’s Town Distilling Co.
will quench their thirst with quality, craft spirits that tell a rich, local story.