The Sacramento plain stretched so wide that no end to it could be seen. In the middle of it, the Golden Grain Soju House was taut with tension even late at night. Jacob stood before the low-temperature vacuum distillation equipment he had received from Warren, staring holes through the numbers on the monitor.
The vacuum gauge pointed precisely to 78 Torr, and the heating jacket’s temperature did not waver by even 0.1 degrees from 34.8 degrees Celsius. In order to recreate the brandy Warren had made—a brandy unlike anything in the world—Jacob had given up sleep for the past three days.
His matted hair and the stale odor coming off his body made it clear just how bad a state he was in.
“Please... just this once...”
When Jacob’s cracked voice broke the silence, a change was finally detected at the outlet pipe at the end of the still. A transparent liquid, as if melted diamonds had been poured out, began to bead, then soon streamed down in a thin line. When the low-temperature color extract prepared in advance was mixed in through a precision pump, the once-clear liquid was instantly dyed a brilliant ruby-brown.
With trembling hands, Jacob held out a tasting glass and caught the undiluted spirit.
“It worked... It worked!”
As he held the glass in rapture, the brewery’s heavy iron door opened, and the solid sound of dress shoes rang out. The man in a dark gray suit with a gold tie pin was Malcolm Lee, vice president of Unity Spirits and Jacob’s dependable distribution partner.
“Hey, Jacob. You look like hell. Did you get into a fight with the workers and crawl inside the still?”
Malcolm approached with his usual hearty smile. The elastic, resonant mid-low voice characteristic of a Black man, and the Patek Philippe watch visible beneath the sleeve of his luxurious coat, spoke for his status.
Having earned considerable sales and bonuses from the vodka and fruit soju produced by Golden Grain Soju House, he went around saying he loved Jacob more than his own wife.
“Malcolm, you came at just the right time. Come here. This might be something that changes your life.”
Malcolm’s eyebrows twitched when he saw the glass Jacob confidently offered him. Like the distribution expert he was, he read the color and texture before the contents.
“What is this? Brandy? But why is the color like this? It’s too vivid a red for oak aging. Don’t tell me you used artificial coloring. We can’t put something like that on our list.”
Malcolm’s tone was gentle, but the content was sharp.
“Try it first, then talk. I think you’ll be surprised.”
With a face full of suspicion, Malcolm brought the glass to the tip of his nose. In that instant, his upper body visibly stiffened.
“......!”
He stopped speaking and inhaled the aroma deeply once more. Then he moistened the tip of his tongue with a very small amount. After the impact of the spirit, which was over 40 proof, passed, the scent of a fresh cherry orchard holding dawn dew burst forth as if exploding, shaking his nasal cavity.
For a long while, Malcolm said nothing, glass in hand.
“Malcolm?”
“Jacob, you crazy bastard. What the hell did you do? This is... brandy, right? But how is the aroma alive? It feels like freshly harvested cherries were crushed on the spot and condensed into alcohol. How can a brandy have this kind of vitality?”
Awe settled in Malcolm’s eyes. He held the glass up to the light and let out exclamations again and again.
“It’s obvious. It’s a technique I learned from Redwood.”
“Of course... It was there again.”
Knowing that all the liquors from this brewery were made with techniques learned from Redwood, which held a 30% stake, he nodded as if he understood.
“I don’t know if you know this, but a legendary winemaker named Warren Winiarski joined my friend’s Redwood. This is a technique he made. It’s called low-temperature vacuum distillation. Since it’s extracted at a temperature lower than body temperature, the fruit aroma stays alive like this in the brandy.”
“If there’s a liquor distributor who doesn’t know that man, he’s no different from a fraud. But Warren Winiarski making brandy... That’s really surprising. Once this is released, not just California but every liquor enthusiast is going to jump at it. Have you decided on a name?”
“Yes. Ruby Quartz.”
As if he liked the name, Malcolm pointed at Jacob.
“That’s very good. An excellent name.”
Malcolm slowly swirled the glass, savoring the name. In his head, thousands of distribution routes and marketing strategies were already spinning rapidly.
Malcolm took a notebook from his pocket and began sketching a bottle shape with a pen. Rough lines were drawn from his fingertips.
“Let’s make the exterior different from the start. Forget the usual brandy bottle. Round and classic would only kill this revolutionary color. We need to go with a ‘crystal decanter’ style—not a smooth, round shape like an ordinary wine bottle or vodka bottle, but a faceted, gorgeously crafted glass bottle like a premium whiskey or cognac bottle, or a perfume bottle—something that traps the aroma while letting the ruby light refract as brilliantly as possible. It needs to have many angular facets, like a perfume bottle, so the color of the liquor looks different every time light enters it. We have to make it so that the moment a consumer puts this bottle on a table, it steals the eyes of everyone around.”
Malcolm’s eyes flashed with businesslike heat. Then he drew another image on a different page of the notebook. Seeing it from beside him, Jacob could tell at once that he was drafting a label, so he spoke up.
“Ah, since Warren made this liquor, we need to include the phrase [Crafted by Warren Winiarski].”
“Is that so? Got it. Then... let’s not put that phrase in the center of the label, but at the bottom, with Mr. Warren’s handwritten signature stamped in gold foil. Use matte black as the background, on paper with a very rough texture. That way, the ruby liquid will shine even more brilliantly against it.”
Malcolm’s proposal was specific and meticulous. He was already imagining this liquor being served at a rooftop bar in New York.
“What are you thinking about distribution? I sincerely hope Unity will distribute this liquor seriously. If not...”
There was no way Malcolm did not understand Jacob’s intention in deliberately letting his words trail off. If he wanted the contract, he would have to do his utmost.
“Look, Jacob. You know how much I value you, right? Then give me the chance first.”
“Hm? How?”
“Twenty-four hours. I want you to give me exactly twenty-four hours. Don’t contact any other distributors until then. I’ll go back to the company, organize the entire strategy, and come back. How about it?”
“Hmm... All right.”
For Jacob, it was comfortable to continue his contract with Unity Spirits, which had treated him well so far, and he did not think his partnership with Malcolm was bad either.
“Thanks. I’ll be back before this time tomorrow. Ah, could I take a little more with me?”
“Of course.”
Malcolm received about 200 milliliters of the Ruby Quartz sample from Jacob and fled the brewery as if running away. He must have been in a hurry, because Jacob could even see him through the window running toward his parked car.
He appeared again at the same time the next day. With a confident expression, Malcolm took a dark navy document envelope from the inner pocket of his suit and placed it on the table.
“This is a preliminary contract that started last night and was finalized exactly one hour ago. An exclusive contract for Ruby Quartz.”
With the tip of his fountain pen, Malcolm pointed out the numbers on the document one by one.
“If you go to the dinosaurs of liquor distribution, places like Southern Glazer’s, Ruby Quartz will be just one of tens of thousands of items. They’ll take 40% of the wholesale price as commission, calling it standard practice, and then charge another 10% for promotion fees, storage fees, and whatever else. Then what ends up in your hand is only a few dozen dollars per bottle. I know labor costs are killing you these days. I also know you have a lot of sales, but expenses are just as high, so it’s hard.”
“... I also know that if someone heard me, they’d say I was worrying over a happy problem. And honestly, I am happy even now. I think it’s a blessing just to be able to keep working because the fruit soju is selling well. It’s just that I have to keep raising wages, so it’s a bit of a concern.”
“Don’t worry. My proposal will blow that concern away in one shot. The recommended retail price for Ruby Quartz will be set at 599 dollars per bottle. And Unity Spirits will purchase the entire supply from your brewery at 350 dollars per bottle.”
“Three hundred fifty dollars?”
Jacob’s eyes widened in surprise. Until now, the liquor Jacob sold had not even reached 20 dollars per bottle. But this time, he would be receiving more than ten times that amount.
“Why? You think it’s expensive?”
“No... It’s just, if we set the price that way, will it sell? It’s not like I don’t know whiskey, but I’m wondering if it’s right to sell it at the price of whiskey aged for decades...”
Malcolm smiled and calmly continued his explanation.
“Jacob, people don’t pay money for the number ‘30 years aged.’ They pay for the ‘specialness’ those 30 years give. Traditional brandy is aged for 30 years because it’s a wait to kill the harsh taste of impurities left behind during distillation.”
“Mm...”
“We skipped that tedious 30-year wait with technological specialness. Because it hasn’t been aged, the cherry aroma is brighter, more lethal... That’s a scent old whiskeys couldn’t produce even if they died and came back to life. Do you think pricing that rare sensation at 599 dollars is a scam? No. This is charity.”
At Malcolm calling 599 dollars so cheap that it was charity, Jacob blankly nodded.
“I see...”
“If the production cost is 150 dollars per bottle, then you make a net profit of 200 dollars every time you sell one. That’s the money you’d make only after selling 100 bottles of the soju you’re selling now. From there, you send Redwood’s 60 dollars, and you still have 140 dollars left. Try shipping just five bottles a day. The monthly raise for the workers you were worrying about gets solved on the spot. Well, if you deduct the 3% royalty you’ll have to give Mr. Warren, it’ll shrink a little more, but it won’t make a big difference.”
Malcolm sank deep into his chair and added.
“In exchange for drastically lowering our distribution commission, Unity Spirits will take exclusive supply rights. Marketing costs? I’ll cover 100% of the cost of calling New York and Hollywood VIPs directly and holding private parties. All you have to do is maintain the quality of the liquor according to the precise data Warren designed. Then I’ll turn this liquor into a medal placed in the study of a successful man.”
Jacob stared intently at the numbers written on the documents. Malcolm’s proposal did not sound like merely signing one more liquor brand, but like a declaration that he would change the weight class of Golden Grain Soju House itself.
“So these are quite extraordinary terms, then?”
Malcolm grinned and answered.
“Of course. After making this, I was certain. You can go to another distributor and listen to their offer if you want. There won’t be anyone who makes a better offer than us.”
“Mm...”
Malcolm’s proposal was good enough for him to be this confident. He added with a self-assured expression.
“In case you’re suspicious, I’ll explain. There are a few reasons we can put forward such extraordinary terms.
First, because Warren Winiarski’s name is stamped behind this liquor. A legend’s guarantee can’t be converted into money. Second, because of Brian Choi, who owns 30% of your shares. I’m watching in real time what monstrous things that guy is doing in Napa Valley. I want to stand in advance on the path of the giant typhoon called Redwood. Ruby Quartz is my ticket into that typhoon.”
Malcolm tapped the bottle of Ruby Quartz on the table with his finger.
“Do you want to be one of tens of thousands supplying Southern Glazer’s, or do you want to create a new standard of luxury together with Unity Spirits? Choose, Jacob. I don’t want you to be the owner of a small brewery. I want you to become a young heavyweight in the distilled spirits industry.”
Jacob read the businesslike conviction in Malcolm’s eyes. He picked up the fountain pen lying beside him.
“All right. Malcolm, I’ll trust your nerve.”
When Jacob finished signing, Malcolm held out his hand in satisfaction.
“A wise choice, partner. Let’s do something about this little brewery first. Don’t tell me you were planning to add brandy with the facility as it is.”
“Of course not. I already called in the contractors. I’m planning to pour in all the funds I’ve saved up.”
Golden Grain Soju House, once a small brewery, was now steadily moving toward becoming a mid-sized company.