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his family immigrated to the United States from Germany, settling in South Louisiana. There was a freshwater marsh on the land where they set down roots, and by 1896, Meleck had built a farm and began growing rice there. Fast forward to 2023, and they still do. “My family has been here for four generations,” Mike Fruge, the owner of J.T. Meleck, said in an interview last year. “I’m always one of those people looking for what’s next.”

the same time, and Fruge immediately regis tered and attended. “I was as green as you could be,” he said. “I didn’t know a thing about it.” As it turned out, he learned that no one in the United States made a spirit out of rice — but that was about to change. After extensive experimentation with a local distiller, Fruge and his team got to work learning how they might turn their crop into a premium vodka. They soon found their footing, and thus was born J.T. Meleck Distillers Louisiana Handcrafted Rice Vodka, released in 2018, and Louisiana Handcrafted Rice Whiskey, released late last year. “It would make our Uncle John proud,” he said, “born right here on our farm, just off Highway 35 in Branch, Louisiana. We’re proud to take our rice from grain to glass. We work the dirt and grow the seed, just like Uncle John did.” Today they still grow rice, and for that local crop, as well as sugarcane and molasses, you have to raise a glass to local Louisiana farmers; to the spirit of our distillers, and to the spirits they give us.

ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Abita’s Strawberry Lager is brewed with juicy, ripe Louisiana strawberries harvested at the peak of the season to give the crisp brew its strawberry flavor and aroma. The lager’s crisp drinkability and 4.2% ABV strength makes it the perfect beer for crawfish boils. Every year’s batch, although brewed with the same recipe, is a little different because of the natural variations in the annual strawberry crop. Abita Strawberry was brewed specifically for Louisiana’s Ponchatoula Strawberry Fest back in 2004 (Rouses was a sponsor of the festival again this year) and distribution began in 2006. This local favorite can be enjoyed all year long.

He and the J.T. Meleck team were sitting around one day wondering what they could do with their rice crop. The price of rice had plummeted to the point where it was not going to be profitable to plant that year, and like many farmers, they were thinking of ways to add value to it. “Somebody said, ‘I wonder if you can make vodka with it?’” Fruge recalled. By an amazing coincidence, there happened to be a distillers conference going on right at

Love beer? Love cheese? ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT We work with local breweries and a top-notch cheese maker from Vermont to craft small-batch beer cheese exclusively for our stores. We have collaborated with Abita Brewing Company in Abita Springs, Gnarly

Barley Brewing in Hammond, and Parish Brewing Co. in Broussard. Currently, our stores have an aged cheddar made with Gnarly Barley’s Jucifer, a New England IPA style beer, and we have more delicious creations in the pipeline. Keep an eye out for the release of Urban South’s

Holy Roller Aged Cheddar and Paradise Park American Lager Aged Cheddar, both of which will be available later this summer.

44 ROUSES SUMMER 2023