The MoKan Chapter of NAMA took a tour last month of Tom’s Town, a Kansas City distillery that produces vodka, gin, and whiskey. But what it really produced was a refreshingly good time for local NAMA colleagues, including members of the University of Missouri Student NAMA chapter.

Acting as the chapter’s Fall Kickoff event, attendees learned how Tom’s Town got its inspiration from the country’s most polarizing and corrupt political boss, Tom Pendergast. Known as King Tom, Pendergast’s irreverence for federal statutes in favor of bare-knuckled local capitalism allowed Kansas City to emerge as the Paris of the Plains. Spirits were certainly raised this night, in more ways than one.