Rationalizations!
Two weeks later, we started selling Black Salt Bitters, which was nothing more than the goo itself, heavily salted and mixed with a small amount of distilled alcohol. The irony of adding the goo back to the same liquor we had extracted it from did not elude me, but a concentrated and very small dose of the stuff made it a perfect mixer. Or at least an engrossing one.
I imagine people might ask how I justified this to myself. Simple: any chemist knows that there are many, many substances out there which are harmless enough in small doses, but fatal in large ones. If a regular distiller did not stay up nights worrying about people dying from drinking a full bottle of his grain alcohol in one sitting, why should I feel awful about someone deciding to drink himself to mindlessness on my product? Particularly since the bottles I used for BSB were as small as I could find in bulk. Besides, I told myself, I can always raise the price if too many bottles are purchased.
Indeed, it only took two price increases — well, three, but the first adjustment was an absolute guess and should not count — before the demand stabilized. Mostly stabilized. But the increased demand after that was merely from people trying to get their hands on something fashionable. I am sure of it.