From ‘liquid to lips’: Distiller looks to grow
Black-owned company adds diversity to industry
For Black History Month, The Morning Call is profiling Russell Fletcher II, owner of Mishka Premium Vodka in Allentown. Fletcher says he is the first and only Black-owned Pennsylvania distillery and is looking to grow his business in an industry he sees lacking in racial diversity and better product inclusion for all small distillers.
Start with the nondescript, concrete-block building tucked in an equally unremarkable-looking industrial park.
A 6,500-gallon water tanker parked out front is about the first, maybe only, thing that catches the eye of what’s going on. Inside, a host of 50- and 100-gallon steel and plastic drums, a bottling chamber and other equipment await production.
The CEO’s office is a table with a few chairs in the middle of the production floor, something again ordinary looking.
“That’s the way I live my life,” said Russell Fletcher II, owner of Mishka Premium Vodka, “because if people start to focus on me, I felt it would take away from the product. The goal is for the product to be a focus.”
But Fletcher seems anything but nondescript or idle while chatting about his highend vodka. He’s young (43), inquisitive, full of energy and a minority owner who hopes to grow his product, from “liquid to lips,” as the Upper Macungie Township resident said during a recent interview.
Since renting the 2,200-square-foot building in 2019 on North Gilmore Street, between Hanover Avenue and Union Boulevard in east Allentown, Fletcher said sales of Mishka vodka, at $25-$30 a liter, have approximately tripled while selling in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois. He’s hoping to move into another building in Allentown about five times the size of his current operation.
Fletcher, who grew up in the New York metropolitan area, moved to the Lehigh Valley
and filed corporation papers in 2008 with the state as This Life Forever. He said he owns the oldest master distiller’s license by a Black person in the state and U.S. Others in the industry, including the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, could not confirm or refute his claim.
“When we get license applications, we don’t look at demographics,” LCB spokesperson Shawn Kelly said. “We don’t really track that.”
‘Press the PLCB’
To Fletcher, the issue of increasing sales is more a matter of economics than discrimination. People, he said, used to question his product, or whether he even had a license to make and sell it. Then, he was used to hearing how a Black-owned company’s merchandise is not “a cut above the rest,” he said.
“I don’t want to name anybody, because it’s still such as finicky industry within itself,” he said.
But more recently, Fletcher said, the issue has become getting his product to more consumers, to allow small distillers such as him to be better served by the LCB.
“How are we able to support our business model, which is ‘liquid to lips’?” he asked. “The way we win is by getting people to try our product.”
In a recent interview on digital cable TV network Revolt, Fletcher laid out that complaint, and more, when it concerned the LCB.
“I have a duty, I have a job to do,” he said. “Right now, we’re attempting to press the PLCB, the Pennsylvania liquor board, because they’re the largest government body that controls the alcohol space.”
Asked to elaborate, Fletcher said without “sufficient guidance” from the LCB, smaller distillers like his — not just minority-owned ones — are prevented from selling more product in state-run stores statewide.
“What we are doing with PLCB is looking for more space when it comes to inclusion, only because the route to get to success is not really clear,” Fletcher said.
Kelly said the LCB offers a program dedicated to Pennsylvania distillers, of which there are 129 active ones with limited production, meaning they produce up to 100,000 gallons per year. Under the program, called Pennsylvania Proud, distillers are can provide up to 10 products to 10 stores, he said.
Locally, state liquor stores in Easton, Quakertown and Center Valley in Upper Saucon Township carry Mishka vodka.
Kelly said the limits are necessary because of the number of Pennsylvania distillers and the limitations of shelf space. He also said those licensed as limited distillers, like Fletcher, can sell their spirits to bars and restaurants. However, if the LCB sells the same product in its stores, the price for bars must not be lower than the LCB’s.
Allentown attorney Ted Zeller, who has extensive experience in liquor law licensing, sees racial disparity in the industry.
“It’s something that there is not a significant representation of alcohol manufacturing by race,” he said.
Beyond that, Zeller, who heads Norris McLaughlin law firm’s liquor law practice, also agrees with Fletcher on the need for more opportunity for smaller distillers. For example, Zeller said, the LCB, which controls pricing and all aspects of alcohol except manufacturing, generally adds about a 35% cost onto a sale through the Pennsylvania Proud program, steering many smaller distillers to sell direct.
“It’s an economic issue; he’s exactly right,” Zeller said of Fletcher, whom he has not met or counseled.
Growth mode
Meanwhile, Fletcher and business-development officials in the city are trying to find a larger, suitable space for his production.
“We’re working with Russell and our partners at Allentown Economic Development Corp. to assist him with expanding his business,” said Daniel Diaz, Allentown’s business development manager.
“Russell responded to urgent needs during the pandemic by shifting gears to produce hand sanitizer and donate portions to the local community,” Diaz said. “Allentown is fortunate to have him.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Fletcher was among several local distillers who switched from producing liquor to hand sanitizer, since its alcohol content and process made it a perfect match for distilleries of all sizes. And he hustled to sell his product, setting up deals with small and large businesses such as LANTA and Comcast.
“He reached out to us at the beginning of the pandemic when sanitizer was hard to find,” said Jason Polster-Abel, LANTA’s administration director. “They were able to supply us product at a faster pace and able to supply us with enough for all employees instead of having to use multiple sources.”
Fletcher also contacted Darius Hurst-Rodney of the nonprofit Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council in Philadelphia, who helped him secure a hand-sanitizer contract with Comcast. The council connects minority business owners with corporate and government representatives who are looking to buy supplies. Fletcher said pivoting to hand sanitizer sustained his business “100%.”
But he also said he’s been producing more vodka than before the pandemic. And he hopes entering the market in states outside Pennsylvania will lead to continued growth for the company with the vodka-esque sounding name.
For Fletcher, Black History Month is a reason to commemorate his heritage, and more.
“I want to stand on my quality,” he said. “The focus should be the fight of being a small-business owner, not a Black small-business owner. It’s great that we celebrate something, but there has to be action. The financial divide is still there.”
Those who have worked with him said Fletcher prefers working hard at overcoming business obstacles.
“Russell understands it’s not that there are barriers by him being an African American,” Hurst-Rodney said, “but he doesn’t let that affect how he conducts himself in business, nor be a hindrance in what he does.”