Keats' Ventifact Distillery

Keats' Ventifact Distillery is a privately-owned craft distillery founded in 2347 on , where it has headquartered ever since. Specializing in the production of New World whiskeys, including rye, wheat, and most famously corn malt whiskeys, the company's product is especially popular in the and with interstellar spacers. Its involvement in several high-profile legal disputes brought against them by -based distillers and trade associations have made them a household name and a symbol of the colonial spirit of self-sufficiency.
==History==
When the first colonization effort arrived on Terra Nova aboard the John Keats in the early 2300s, settlers brought their drinking culture with them. In addition to the lounge provided for in the initial habitation block plans, many colonists chose to start up bars and pubs of their own within the first few years. Influenced by their heritage from across the , the success of these establishments created a demand for familiar drinks: beer, wine, rum, tequila, and whiskey among the most sought-after. With no producers established on Terra Nova, the best available option was to import from Earth-based distilleries, which came with steep transportation costs.
As drinking became more expensive, these early bars and pubs suffered a loss of customers and were steadily forced to close down. One establishment, however, saw a demand and capitalized on it. The Keats' Ventifact Bar & Grill, named for the John Keats’ landing site, attempted to stave off bankruptcy by producing its own liquor. While the owners knew nothing at all about distillation, brothers Robert and Thomas Kearney spent the few off hours running their business allowed to research the topic. Taking on loans to use the colony's fabrication suite, they soon had a simple pot still to work with and began to experiment.
While a long process of trial and error, the Kearney brothers had a viable product within three years. Made from a mash bill of mostly sweet corn descended from strains grown in the URNA's Yakima Valley, they named the distillation Barkhan bourbon, first of the New World spirits. Marketing slogans aside, the whiskey's local production meant it could be profitably sold for less than a third of what imported Earth whiskeys cost, making it wildly popular in a deprived and hungry market. Before long, Keats' Ventifact was selling its distillation to other bars on Terra Nova, and the distilling became a more profitable business than their pub.
Their effect on the market, however, was not without repercussion. The exorbitant profits gleaned by Earth-based whiskey producers were immediately slashed, and company agents were sent to investigate the cause. Seeking to please their investors, these companies raised concerns with authorities over the legality of Keats' Ventifact's production and sale of alcohol. As local laws had yet to be established concerning drink production, the company operated in a legal gray area—one its incorporated competitors eagerly seized on. Another legal challenge came from the Distilled Spirits Council of the URNA, which asserted Barkhan could not be legally marketed as bourbon since it was produced outside former United States territories.
These companies did not account for the considerable blowback their legal strongarming would cause. Drinking had only just come back into the reach of Terra Nova's middle class, and the attempt to shut down the first and only local supplier caused an upheaval. Most citizens stopped buying imported spirits altogether, supporting Keats' Ventifact with their money instead. Gathering enough money to mount a legal defense, the company went to court and countered with monopoly allegations, cases which would help establish precedent used to write new colonial law. The URNA Distilled Spirits Council did, however, win in the bourbon naming case, as the name had been exclusive to products made in former US territories for centuries. Barkhan became officially classified as a corn whiskey after the case was settled in 2370.
Ultimately, Keats' Ventifact's real victory would come not from winning cases only on Terra Nova, but in providing resources for colonial distillers across human space. The company started programs to encourage and support new distilleries on other worlds, locking out the monopolies which Earth-based producers had tried to establish on Terra Nova. This also extended to beer and other spirit producers, leading to vibrant and varied drinking communities unique to each planet. Still, popular demand has allowed Keats' Ventifact to expand their business to export of their own product throughout the colonies.
Overtime, Keats' Ventifact has come to sit in a contentious position in the colonial drinking market. While upper-class colonists insist on the more expensive Earth-based distillates, Keats' products have become emblematic of working-class spacers and colonists. This association proved strong enough that, in 2409, the company changed its branding to include a 
. Despite that the Phoenix-class was developed decades after Terra Nova's settlement, the ship's part in establishing many Outer Colonies has made it a symbol to many of Keats' Ventifact's most ardent customers.
==Brands==
While Keats' Ventifact experiments with many mash bills, the following have long remained among its most popular:
*Barkhan single-barrel corn whiskey: The product which first landed the company in so much trouble, Barkhan had to omit the name bourbon after 2370. Thereafter referred to as a corn whiskey, the mash bill exceeds 80% sweet corn, but also contains barley and a small percentage of wheat. Aged in charred Terra Novan Goldenglade barrels for at least 7 years, the end result is very sweet with a noticeable corn flavor. This sweetness gives way to a clear vanilla and powdered sugar blending of notes, hinting at almond before turning to honey and peanutty richness for the finish. Excellent for bringing out the flavor in bitters when mixed in a cocktail.
*Zeugan 100-proof wheat whiskey: After safely establishing their business, Keats' Ventifact was able to branch out and explore new methods of distillation and aging unique to Terra Nova. First among their experiments was using wheat whiskey, known for a lack of flavors imposed by wheat in the mash bill, to explore the characteristics lent by using barrels of wood native to Terra Nova. Unanimously declared the best of these experiments was the Zeugan, aged in barrels of uncharred Dream Maple. The wood imparts a unique flavor best alikened to petrichor, suitably complemented by the faint note of mint from the wheat. While the company has continued to use Dream Maple barrels in several drink lines, its introduction in Zuegan has yet to be surpassed in popularity.
*Yardang rye: Beginning in 2392 as Terra Nova's agricultural industry expanded production of the rye crop Keats' Ventifact already used to round out its existing mash bills, Yardang rye repopularized the sazerac and other classic rye cocktails among colonial drinkers. Despite more favorable reviews, as by that time the distillery had grown more widely accepted, the rye whiskey had difficulty competing in the market against Keats' Ventifact's own existing products. Characterized by unusual fruit notes inherited from the Goldenglade barrels used in its aging, the Yardang delivers on the familiar baking spice flavors expected of rye distillations.
Category:Company