Description

The year was 1835, and on a cold March day Irishman Fee Owen landed in America at the age of 31. By 1847 Owen had opened a butcher store and was living in Rochester, New York, with his wife, Margaret, and their five children. One of them, James, opened a grocery store in 1864, the date that appears on the labels, with California and European imported wines, spirits and liqueurs. In 1883 the remaining brothers founded Fee Brothers, which would face an endless series of difficulties in the years to follow. In 1908 Rochester, the neighborhood where they had the warehouse was destroyed by fire, while 1919 marked the beginning of Prohibition, which threatened to totally wipe out the company. The Fee survived thanks to the creative flair of the Fee who began to commericize large cans of concentrated grape must for food purposes, with which it was possible, by diluting them with water and adding yeast, to make a home-made wine of fair quality. This practice is also confirmed by the diary entries of Depero, the futurist who lived in New York during those very years. Fee also sold a malt syrup used in baking on which it was written “Do not add yeast, it may ferment” to protect their willingness to comply with the law and a range of syrups to eventually make liquors as well. With the repeal of the 18th Amendment and the end of the Noble Experimet, business resumed with the hiring of as many as 28 employees. The story is a crescendo of success until the decision was made to abandon the importation of wines and from the 1970s onward to focus on the production of liqueurs and bitters. In 1995 the decision was made to remake all labels, creating new offerings to pander to the growing bitters market. 17 references to make each cocktail even more rounded and tasty.