A fantastical Los Angeles distillery is challenging New York’s unconstitutional shipping laws
The Obscure isn’t your ordinary distillery. Found in the heart of the Los Angeles Arts District, most people passing by the black, unmarked building have no clue that just on the other side of the windowless door, a gothic, fantastical realm awaits.
The Obscure’s tasting room feels more like the set of a theatrical production. Candlelight illuminates the way through dark, cavernous ruins lined with lava walls and waterfalls. When visitors enter, they are handed a tarot card and led to their seat, where their two-hour cocktail adventure begins. Here, the bartenders are storytellers, and every specialty cocktail and spirit is served with a story.
This extraordinary experience is what has made The Obscure such a draw for tourists and locals alike, so that it’s on track to attract 30,000 visitors from across the country this year. The distillery’s success did not come without its fair share of challenges—like becoming an official business the same week the COVID-19 closures began. The Obscure has also found itself up against a burdensome regulation in New York that is preventing the distillery from sharing its spirits with fans on the opposite coast.
Volcano and lava walls inside The Obscure
Candlelight illuminates the faux waterfall inside The Obscure
A pirate and a storyteller
The Obscure owner Théron Regnier is a fourth-generation Angeleno. While he has tried venturing out of California a few times, relocating to Oregon, Iowa, and South Carolina, no matter how far he strayed, he has always found his way back to Los Angeles. For Théron, there is no place like LA, with its rich culture of creativity and storytelling.
Théron earned his degree in screenwriting, but he spent his 20s working in real estate and banking. It wasn’t a particularly creative career path, but his steady paycheck gave him the ability to spend his free time trying the latest cocktails and spirits at local bars. Théron loved hanging out on slow nights, when he could chat with the bartenders and sample their newest creations. Of all the cocktails he’s tried over the years, for Théron, nothing beats a classic daiquiri.
The Obscure owner Théron Regnier stands in front of the distillery’s entrance
This period of Théron’s life was also an exciting time for the craft cocktail industry. Bar culture had been on the decline since its glory days when a night at the bar had a certain elegance about it. Women dressed up, men removed their hats, and bartenders took pride in crafting quality cocktails. By the late 1990s, this cocktail culture no longer existed. Bars were a place to go after work, maybe watch the game, sit on a stool with peeling laminate, and order a pre-made sugary cocktail
In 1999, Sasha Petraske had a vision to reignite the magic and artistry of the cocktail bar experience. He opened Milk & Honey, a Manhattan bar that paid homage to the days of speakeasies, with an unmarked door, craft cocktails, and strict rules—“no hooting, hollering, shouting, or other loud behavior.” And you couldn’t just stumble inside; reservations were required.
Petraske’s Milk & Honey sparked a renaissance of craft distilleries, cocktails, and bars with a vibe. This revolution was at least partially responsible for the rise of craft distillers in the nation, which grew from 75 to 2,283 over the next couple of decades. Théron felt inspired to continue what the godfather of modern cocktails had started.
Cocktail made at The Obscure
A decade ago, while he was in his 30s, Théron realized that life is short and there was no time like the present to take a risk and pursue his passion for craft spirits and cocktails. Théron jokingly calls his decision to quit his job and start a distillery “going full pirate.” His plan was to create a distillery and tasting room experience that combined quality spirits, specialty cocktails, and captivating storytelling. Thus, The Obscure was born.
Théron filed the business’ paperwork on March 17, 2020—not an ideal time for a new business. But he was determined to make it work. With the economic fallout from widespread business closures, California tried to ease the blow by changing some of its laws to help restaurants, liquor stores, bars, and craft distilleries stay afloat. The changes included making it easier for businesses to do direct-to-consumer sales in California and other states with which they had agreements.
Since Théron couldn’t open a brick and mortar tasting room in the thick of the pandemic, these relaxed regulations were a huge help. Théron remembers thinking, “Okay, let’s go build this thing and see where the world is at the time by the time we’re done.” He continued, “So we started working on the actual physical distillery location.”
As the world slowly reopened, the plans for the full Obscure experience got underway. The Obscure was finally able to open its doors to the public in 2022.
Théron with a pair of drinks crafted at The Obscure
“It was kind of a soft open in July 2022,” Théron said. “But given the theme of the place being sort of dark and gothic and a little mysterious and slightly spooky, we had a few very big viral moments in September, October, leading up to Halloween of that year.”
TikTok and Instagram users went crazy for The Obscure, uploading pictures and videos of their experience. They loved the vibe, the décor, the drinks, and the stories that guided the tastings. The Obscure became a hit, not just with Californians but with tourists who came from out of state. When the tastings ended, the non-Californians were eager to bring a piece of the magic home with them. The problem was, packing bottles of spirits in your luggage is a pain and many tourists asked if they could ship to their homes. Unfortunately, The Obscure’s New York visitors were out of luck, thanks to their state law that forbids California distilleries from shipping directly to New York consumers.
Patrons enjoy a drink at The Obscure
Bartender prepares drinks for The Obscure tasting experience
New York’s defiance of the commerce clause
New York law allows in-state craft distilleries to ship spirits directly to New Yorkers, rather than going through the standard alcohol distribution system of selling through retailers. But for out-of-state distilleries, like The Obscure, they are permitted to ship directly to New York consumers only if their home states offer reciprocal privileges to New York distillers. California does not.
American distillers should be allowed to compete with each other regardless of the state they are based in. The Constitution’s Commerce Clause protects this right. New York’s law places discriminatory burdens on out-of-state distillers who are not given an equal opportunity to compete with in-state distillers. The Commerce Clause was designed to ensure that these types of laws would not impede the right to compete in the marketplace. Distillers should be able to sell to any consumer who wants their spirits. But under New York’s policy, everybody loses and nobody wins.
New York’s prohibitory law is a particularly low blow to The Obscure because one of its signature craft spirits, an American chestnut-matured rye whiskey called Rites of Fall, wouldn’t even be possible without the New York chestnut trees.
Théron holds a Rites of Fall bottle
Rites of Fall, rights of distillers
While Théron was creating Rites of Fall, he got a lot of help from his bar director, Hope Ewing. Hope’s father is a member of the New York chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring the American chestnut tree to the eastern United States region.
Seasonally pruning the trees is a vital step in making sure they grow strong and healthy. Usually, the trimmings from the pruning season go to waste. But Théron, Hope, and her father worked together to arrange for The Obscure to obtain the trimmings from New York chestnut trees and use them to make their rye. To support the New York chestnut trees, Théron donates 10% of the proceeds to the Foundation.
“Trees need upkeep. And if there’s wood that normally would just fall on the ground and rot or get thrown in a pile, we can convert that, at least some of that, into spirit that can be used to generate proceeds for the American Chestnut Foundation. So everybody wins,” Théron said.
Théron and Hope Ewing behind bar
The arrangement has been working out great … except for one thing: Neither Hope’s father nor the New York chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation can taste the rye without traveling all the way to Los Angeles. This highlights just how absurd the New York law is because the people who helped create Rites of Fall aren’t even allowed to order it.
New York’s law has got to go.
Frustrated as he was, Théron didn’t know he had the option to fight back. Fortunately, he found Pacific Legal Foundation.
“I would never have imagined there was a nonprofit that would care enough about consumer rights to join me in caring about this,” Théron said. “So, the fact that we’re even having this conversation to me is just more proof of how much the universe will reward getting out there and doing stuff.”
After speaking with PLF and learning about our fight to protect the rights of businesses to compete on equal footing with other competitors, regardless of state, Théron was ready to take on New York’s law.
As he says, “When somebody comes up and says, ‘We want to pick this fight,’ I was like, ‘Oh. Let’s play.’”
Théron hard at work
While Théron’s legal battle is against New York, it goes without saying that California’s reciprocity law is equally discriminatory and is also in need of being challenged. No matter what state is doing it, it is unjust to burden hardworking entrepreneurs with additional, onerous hurdles that limit market access and economic opportunity to businesses located out of state.
One of The Obscure’s craft cocktails
