Our story begins in another time. The roots of the Soltis Family Distillery run far deeper than the enriched mineral waters that flow through the deep rock and into the artesian well in our historic cellar on Chicago’s storied south-side.
The European immigrants who founded the small village of Thornton, Illinois knew quality and liked their spirits when our artesian well was first tapped in 1853. For another generation, the brewery built atop it spilled out barrels of beer to the latest seekers of the fabled American dream.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Joe Soltis fled war-torn Europe with a family recipe for spirits in his pocket as he booked passage and headed west. He was a young man, larger-than-life with a heaving barrel chest, massive hands and physical strength that matched perfectly with the task of lifting beer-filled barrels into trucks. After arriving in his new land of opportunity, Joe Soltis did whatever he needed to do to put food on his family’s table. He was a horse breaker, a saloon keeper and finally, a brewer of fine spirits. Chicago’s population and economy continued to explode and beer and booze became a hot commodity. And it would remain quite a desirable commodity after it was deemed illegal.
When Prohibition dawned and his Thornton brewery officially shuttered, Joe’s career choices narrowed. He turned to bootlegging and rum-running and made sure to appease the gangsters such as “Scarface Al” Capone who controlled distribution. “Polack Joe Saltis” was soon the moniker for Joe Soltis on the rough streets of Chicagoland. At home, he was still just “Joe,” a family man who enjoyed the enrichment and culture of the jazz-infused speakeasies of the Roaring 20’s that Hollywood glamorized.
Joe’s reputation for generosity grew large and with it came other nicknames on the street: “The Beer Baron” and “The Santa Claus of the Back of the Yards” were soon affixed. It was only a matter time before gangland violence tarnished the image for all. Chicago leaders tired of the glamorization and decided the image needed to change. Thus, “Polack Joe Saltis” earned a final label:
Public Enemy No. 9.*
Joe Soltis was a peacemaker, not a villain. He hated the new environment and he decided it was time to move on. He retired to a remote lake in Wisconsin with his family recipe still secure in his heart. Joe never stopped distilling; he just changed locales and lowered his profile.
A century later, we, along with his great-grandson Steve Soltis, start the next chapter of his legacy by returning to the tiny Illinois village and taking up our craft in his historic Thornton Brewery. The Prohibition Era is in our collective memory as we raise our glass and tip our hat one more time to Joe Soltis.
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Joseph Soltis Bio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph "Polack Joe" Saltis [Soltis] (1894 in Hungary - 1947 in Winter, Wisconsin) was an early Prohibition gangster who, with Frank McErlane, controlled bootlegging in the Southwest Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Originally a Slovakian[1] immigrant who had become a saloon owner in Joliet, Illinois, Saltis moved to Chicago with the announcement of the Volstead Act in 1920. With the assistance of John "Dingbat" O'Berta, a candidate for the Illinois State Senate, Saltis began supplying illegal alcohol to Chicago's speakeasies. By 1925, Saltis effectively controlled the Southwest Side. Saltis, by now extremely wealthy from bootlegging, purchased a residence in Winter, Wisconsin. Employing over half of the town's sixty citizens, Saltis later tried to have the town named Saltisville in the town's general election, but failed by one vote. Saltis also built the Barker Lake Golf Course in Winter.
During this time, Saltis remained on good terms with his South Side neighbor Al Capone, whose Chicago Outfit began dominating Chicago's bootlegging soon after his arrival in the early 1920s. Indeed, by the mid-1920s, only the Saltis-McErlane organization remained independent from the eight satellite gangs under Capone's control.[2] However, soon becoming entrenched in territory disputes with many of Capone's satellite gangs, Saltis began talks for a secret alliance with Capone rival Earl "Hymie" Weiss's North Side Gang.[3] Throughout the next year, Saltis began preparing for war as smaller rivals such as the Southside O'Donnell's (for which an attempt would be made on his life in late-1925) and sometimes allied Sheldon Gang began to threaten Saltis's hold on the Southwest Side as soon gunmen such as Frank "Lefty" Koncil, Charlie "Big Hayes" Hubacek, and Frank McErlane joined Saltis's ranks.
On August 6, 1926, Sheldon Gang member John "Mitters" Foley was killed by Frank Koncil while in Saltis's territory. While Koncil, along with O'Berta and Saltis, were arrested and charged with murder O'Berta's considerable political influence (as well as assistance from Weiss[4]) was able to get the case dropped on November 9.
The following year O'Berta, with Saltis, managed to arrange a conference at the Hotel Sherman on October 20, which included Al Capone, George "Bugs" Moran, Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Ralph Sheldon, William Skidmore, Maxie Eisen, Jack Zuta, and Christian Betsche, and managed to agree on a general ceasefire of the various gang wars, specifically between the Chicago Outfit and the North Side Gang, as well as the gang war between Saltis-McErlane and the Sheldon Gang. The ceasefire lasted a little over two months before war broke out again when members of Saltis-McErlane gang killed Sheldon Gang member Hillary Clements on December 30. As the gang war continued between Saltis and the Sheldon Gang over the Southwest Side, Al Capone had begun to move in on Saltis's territory, as the war was beginning to turn in favor of the Sheldon Gang. When Koncil and Hubacek were lured into an ambush and killed on March 11, 1927, Saltis appealed to Capone to negotiate peace between the Sheldon Gang in exchange for a cut of Saltis's profits. By the end of the gang war, however, Saltis's gang began to disintegrate as Frank McErlane left Saltis in late 1929 over disagreements over McErlane's share. When O'Berta and his chauffeur, Sam Malaga, disappeared on March 25, 1930, allegedly taken for a "one way ride", O'Berta was later found dead of a gunshot wound to the head. With his associates gone and his organization all but destroyed, Saltis quickly retired to his home on Barker Lake in Winter, Wisconsin.[5]
Joe Saltis later died at age 53 from complications of a stomach ulcer in Chicago's Cook County Hospital in 1947.
Despite his retirement, when Frank J. Loesch, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission compiled his "Public Enemies" list of the top 28 people he saw as corrupting Chicago in April 1930, Saltis was ranked in ninth place (Capone headed the list). The list was widely published, gaining Saltis a measure of nationwide notoriety.