Interesting. I've always thrown in with the hacker crowd, but everything about this PR stunt has led me to believe speakeasy.is the type of business I want nothing to do with.
The laws this thread contends they're violating strike me as falling into the category of public safety, e.g. proper labeling of spirits, Department of Health guidelines (http://blog.speakeasy.is/day/2013/07/23), etc. Viscerally, these don't strike me as the type of laws we want to championing start-ups into breaking.
But fuck laws, right? What really kills me about these guys is that they represent the cancer that is killing HN - all hustle, no authenticity. Instead of coordinating with local distilleries for a co-promotion event they fill Ikea bottles with "a cheap, mass-produced Russian vodka" and stick a fake label on the side. This is the definition of "grey-hat SEO 'growth hackers.'"
I was making the point on principle: there are quite a few Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do-type laws[1] on the books, which indeed protect people from scammers that don't have their best interests at heart; but where, if you do have people's best interests at heart (and know what you're doing enough to not, say, use unsterilized bottles), the laws are actually giving consumers a suboptimal result, and people will be grateful for the things you can do for them by skirting them.
For an example of what I do think is a valid "hustle", say you're holding an event and selling tickets. You have the idea of getting your friend--who owns a nicely pimped-out bus, and who has a commercial driver's license (so you know they can drive that thing safely)--to come around and pick people up and take them to the event as a free service. You're probably still breaking all sorts of little laws there--taxi or limo laws, certainly--but the customers who take you up on that service are getting a better experience than if they had to arrange transportation separately.
This, on the other hand, is closer to the line. I think, if they had been doing anything "food-processing-y" to the vodka, like adding a flavorant or something, I'd be less okay with it; as it was, though, they just did a bottle-filling and a labeling, which anyone with experience in home kit-wine/kit-beer making knows how to do safely. I would say that, in my own mind, at least, it's similar to buying bulk-ketchup at Costco and then printing up ketchup packets with your brand-logo on them and giving them away at your restaurant.
The laws this thread contends they're violating strike me as falling into the category of public safety, e.g. proper labeling of spirits, Department of Health guidelines (http://blog.speakeasy.is/day/2013/07/23), etc. Viscerally, these don't strike me as the type of laws we want to championing start-ups into breaking.
But fuck laws, right? What really kills me about these guys is that they represent the cancer that is killing HN - all hustle, no authenticity. Instead of coordinating with local distilleries for a co-promotion event they fill Ikea bottles with "a cheap, mass-produced Russian vodka" and stick a fake label on the side. This is the definition of "grey-hat SEO 'growth hackers.'"