LOHMAN  — Blacksmith Artisanal Spirits co-owner Mike Broker, Jr., 82, a native of Frankenstein, is set to release “Four Brothers Whiskey,” a blend of four favorite whiskies in honor of his four elder brothers, all of whom served in the armed forces during WWII.

Blacksmith Artisanal Spirits in Lohman is operated by Mike Broker III and Russ Broker primarily, along with two of his five siblings. Mike and Russ ferment, barrel, and package the whiskey. John Broker works remotely from Pasadena, Calif., designing labels and dealing with federal paperwork and bookkeeping. Their sister, Leah, of Asheville, N.C., serves as brand ambassador, and bottle washer when home.

Leah had the idea to honor veterans, and it made sense to name the new blend after four family heroes.

“We hope to make a donation to a veteran’s group,” Mike Jr. said, explaining Russ is active with a veterans group in St. Louis, where he lives. “We blended our corn whiskey, bourbon, Hammered Rye, and Family Reserve to make Four Brothers Whiskey.”

Three of the four brothers — Joseph, Theodore, and Vincent — served in the Civilian Conservation Corps before entering military service. “President Roosevelt started that to get us out of the Depression; families couldn’t feed their kids,” Mike Jr. said. “They made this available, and young men would go to these camps, where they got a cot and three squares a day, but they had to work their butts off.”

He explained the government cut a check each month. “Most of it went home to mom, and something like 15 or 20 bucks — I don’t know exactly how much was given to the soldier or they spent it. I don’t know whether they had a PX or anything like that. The camps were run kind of military style, in terms of rules, and so on, so they transitioned right into the military.”

The oldest, Joseph, was in the Army Air Corps and was the only brother who never left the United States. He worked in aircraft. “He always wanted to be in the Air Force but wound up working in aircraft factories after the war. He was very smart. None of them had high school education because Frankenstein didn’t have a high school.”

Joseph began service in the Army Air Corps on March 5, 1944, as a supply clerk with Squadron M, 350 2nd AAF Base Unit. He served 21 months and enrolled in college courses. Joseph took flight training at the University of Toledo in Ohio on D-Day, working toward a commission as a pilot. He was discharged on Nov. 14, 1945, earning the Victory and Good Conduct medals while being decorated as an M1 and 30-caliber marksman.

Following his military service, Joseph pursued highly technical work in defense plants. He also farmed and enjoyed his love of all things mechanical. Joe and his wife, Sue, reared seven children and moved around the country. He passed away on May 12, 2001, in Raleigh, N.C., at 83.

Theodore (Ted) enlisted in the Army Air Force in October 1943. He was trained as a radio operator and gunner on B-17 and B-24 bombers. After basic training at Scott Field, Ill., he was assigned to the 72nd Bomber Squadron, 5th Bomber Group Heavy, in the Pacific Theater.

Ted married his longtime sweetheart, Gertrude Hausmann, on Dec. 6, 1943, and returned to duty two days later. Their weekend honeymoon was the extent of Ted and Gertrude’s time together; unfortunately, they never saw each other again. Ted’s B-24 bomber went down near the island of New Guinea, and he was killed in action on Dec. 5, 1944, one day shy of his first anniversary. He was 25.

Ted’s mother, Anna Bengel Broker, received a telegram from Gen. Douglas MacArthur reading, “Dear Mrs. Broker, My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son, Technical Sergeant Ted R. Broker. Your consolation for this loss may be that he died in the service of his country in a just cause and for the benefit of all.”

Ted was initially buried in New Guinea, near where he was killed, but he was later moved to the Manilla American Cemetery in the Philippines. He was awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart.

During the war, Ted wrote a letter to one of his brothers, and he said, “‘They trained me on the B-17,’” Mike Jr. said. “‘I really liked that plane.’ But he said, ‘Now they put me on a B-24. This thing’s gonna kill me. These things are so dangerous.’ Well, now I read that the B-24 has been judged a death trap. It was known as the Air Force coffin. We never received any real confirmation whether they were shot down, ran out of fuel, or whatever before they entered the Pacific. The information was given to my family, of course. You have to understand that this was the middle of the worst war we were ever in. Communications weren’t all that clear in many cases. I was 3 years old, and one of my first memories was the guy coming up our driveway. We didn’t have visitors very much down there where we lived. This man came to the door and handed my mother the telegram from MacArthur.”

Ted never saw his daughter, Sharon, who was born on Sept. 8, 1944. “In a strange twist of fate, Sharon also died at the age of 25 from a brain aneurysm.”

The third oldest brother, Vincent, finished his freshman year and was one of two sophomores. “He said, ‘I was the dumbest and the smartest in my class,’” Mike Jr. said.

Vincent entered military service on Dec. 10, 1942, and completed basic training at Fort Knox, Kent., and Fort Campbell, Tenn. He was a truck driver and machine gunner assigned to the 3rd Armored Division of the Army, which led the 1st Army’s attack. Vincent served 34 months in several campaigns, including Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Central Europe, and England.

Among his most memorable campaigns was his Normandy landing six days after D-Day. After hitting the beach, the truck he was driving was peppered with bullet holes, but miraculously, he was not hit. Vincent’s company was the second group to cross the Siegfried Line. During the Northern French campaign, he participated in the triumphant march into Paris in August 1944, which resulted in the liberation of the “City of Lights.” His involvement in the war was full of danger and tragedy, especially his experiences in liberating POW camps in France and Belgium. He found the liberation of Paris to be a highlight of his military career.

PFC Vincent Broker was discharged from the Army on Sept. 22, 1945. He earned five Bronze Stars, a Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Ribbon, four Overseas Bars, and the Northern European Lapel Button.

Vincent retired after working for 30 years with Interstate Brands Butternut Baker in Kansas City. He returned to Osage County in 1983 and worked for the Missouri Highway Department for a short time. He lived with his wife, Irene, in Linn until his death at 81 in 2003. Irene lost a brother in WWII.

The youngest, Eugene, was the first to enlist, joining the US Marine Corps on Sept. 16, 1942. Cpl. Broker received training as a guard patrolman, military policeman, and machine-gun crew member. He participated in offensive air action in the Pacific Theater, specifically in capturing the Gilbert and Marshal Islands. In a rare coincidence, Eugene ran across Ted on the tiny South Pacific island of Antepe, where they were preparing planes for bombing runs.

That was the last time Eugene saw Ted, and some months later, Eugene was permitted to return home to accompany his mother to Scott Field, Ill., to participate in memorial ceremonies for Ted. Eugene was later assigned to Cherry Point, N.C., for additional training as an aerial gunner.

Eugene was discharged on Nov. 3, 1945, after 38 months in the Marine Corps. He settled in New Jersey, married Doris and raised seven children. He was a carpenter and maintenance man at a military base, a part-time cab driver, a rescue squad volunteer, and a state hospital attendant. He passed away at 75 on Sept. 13, 2000.

One of seven children, Mike Jr. noted that to honor his brothers’ service, Four Brothers includes the corn whiskey recipe their dad, Mike, and his brother, Johnny Broker, made until prohibition. “They used to bury mash in the sawdust when they had sawmills, and the heat from the sawdust would ferment it faster,” Mike Jr. said. “While it was under this sawdust, nobody could smell or see anything.”

Life in Frankenstein back then was challenging. “I was born in 1941, and things were still pretty primitive,” Mike Jr. said. “We didn’t have electricity, refrigeration, or anything when I was little, but everybody was self-sufficient. I think that’s something that doesn’t get enough notice when referring to people who made shine. Some of them made it specifically to make a living, but almost every farmer made their own beer, wine, whiskey, cider, or whatever. I grew up in a period of living off the land and making whatever you need.”

The first batch Mike III created included malt and mulberry wine. “That wasn’t very good, so we put a gallon and a half of mulberry wine in there,” he said. “It came out 140 proof, and you could light it on fire. That’s how we started.”

Mike Jr. then made the “Family Recipe,” which he had saved over the years on a hand-written note from interviewing his father. He had always wanted to make his dad’s corn whiskey, and once he did, and aged it a bit in toasted barrels, people enjoyed it immensely.

Mike Broker was a blacksmith by trade, which served as the basis for naming the various whiskies. Black Anvil Bourbon Whiskey, 45% alcohol by volume (ABV), is the company’s flagship product. “This classic bourbon has caramel, toffee, and vanilla notes balanced by spice and a hint of heat,” the website notes.

Descriptions are in John’s wheelhouse, and he has earned awards for his labels. Other offerings include Iron Forge corn whiskey, Hammered Rye, Black Anvil Family Reserve, and now, Four Brothers. John wanted to verify the wording when writing a description for the black label. “‘We are a fourth-generation distilling family with roots in Frankenstein, Missouri. Yes, really, Frankenstein.’ John says, ‘Do we want to put the name in there?’ I’m like, yeah, we do. People see Frankenstein and don’t believe it.”

Blacksmith Distillery has also expanded to include Quench Tank gin and Cold Chisel vodka.

Russ Broker, a Moonshine University graduate and executive bourbons steward, has a penchant for creating new whiskeys and other alcohol blends.

Recently, Russ created a cinnamon whiskey after a client approached him with a favorite that was being discontinued. “He asked if we could come up with something similar,” Russ recalled. “I consider myself a foodie, and I was on a competition cooking team for years,” he added. “I like to pair things. It took me four or five iterations to get one that I thought was close but, in my opinion, excelled over what’s on the market today. And, of course, we wanted to make it with our corn whiskey. I tried one with a bourbon, but it just had a little bit too much of the spice. The corn was a nice, smooth blend with a very nice palate.”

Sometimes, inspiration hits Russ in the middle of nowhere; sometimes, it’s a conversation. “I created a bacon maple bourbon for a client with a liquor store and a butcher shop,” he added. “We enjoyed the maple, and we found out that there was a local family that had Missouri maple syrup. So I got that from them, I got bacon from him, invented a bacon tea bag to try to get these things all together, and created that for him. That was a lot of fun.”

Mike III believes Blacksmith Distillery can create delicious whiskey because of the water coming from a 347-foot well with limestone and flint in sandstone. “The water is hard as hell and delicious,” he said.

Using a 100-gallon still, the Brokers can produce 18 gallons of 125-proof whiskey every weekend, aged in three, five, 10, or 15-gallon oak barrels.

“That’s the highest proof you can put it in a barrel,” Mike III said. “I’m talking legal uncut bourbon.”

The smaller the barrel, the faster it ages because of a liquid-to-surface area ratio. “We started with three gallons because we could only make about three gallons a weekend,” Mike III said, noting it would take two years to fill up a full-size barrel and two more years to age it.

Three-gallon barrels take about four months, and five-gallon barrels take about six months to be ready. “Every Saturday and Sunday, all of us get together and make whiskey. Russ tries to come down every other weekend to help out with the work. On Friday night, we’ll come and clean all these up and prep.”

It takes about an hour to get the distillery ready to turn grain into alcohol for various spirits. They start by sanitizing the equipment and filling two metal barrels to cook the grains to release the fermentable sugars.

After that, everything is ready for them when they get up at 5 a.m. the next day to turn on the mash tuns to heat water to cook the grain. Afterward, they return to bed for a couple of hours and then to the distillery.

Mike III explained the grain cooks for six hours, and then he and Russ pump out the liquid and start washing again to get the tuns ready.

They fill two mash tuns each day and put them into a fermenter. Yeast is added to turn the sugars into the alcohol.

Mike III noted they distill the liquid for most of the day until the alcohol is 140 proof. “We water it down to 115 proof and put it into small barrels,” he added.

After Mike III approached them, a Russellville bar was the first to stock the whiskey. Blacksmith Distillery now sells its products in 53 locations, including Linn Thriftway.

“We’re hoping people in Linn and Osage County will try Four Brothers Whiskey,” Mike Jr. said. “We all grew up there and believe it’s important to honor our heritage.”

Blacksmith Artisanal Spirits, as a member of the Missouri Craft Distillers’ Guild, participates in the Missouri Spirits Expedition, a tour of distilleries across the state.

Anyone who completes the tour and collects stamps from each location will receive a free blend the five founding members poured into one barrel.

Each guild member has bottles on hand for those who complete the journey, but Mike Jr. isn’t sure what will happen once the barrel is empty. “Maybe they’ll make another barrel and ask anybody that wants to contribute to send them something,” he said.

Blacksmith Distillery also offers custom labels and sells its used barrels since they cannot be used more than once to age bourbon. “People like them as decorative pieces,” Mike III said.

Russ added that he could burn a name into each barrel to personalize it.

During the pandemic, Blacksmith Distillery also created hand sanitizer to help curtail the shortage and donated it to local EMS and law enforcement.

For more information, visit blacksmithartisanalspirits.com.