Review: New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka
New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka was just released. The bottles painted trim is brown for those keeping track at home. For those unfamiliar with New Amsterdam, their flavored vodka comes in bottles matching the fruit flavors with corresponding bottle trim colors. NA Gluten Free joins a vodka lineup that includes 9 flavored vodka’s, a 100 proof vodka, and their Original New Amsterdam Vodka. These vodka’s are all made from “the finest grains”. No specific grains are listed. New Amsterdam Gluten Free Vodka is made from “the finest corn” grown in the heartlands. It is distilled five times and meticulously filtered three times before bottling at 80 proof. Only Smirnoff and Tito’s sell more vodka in the US. Last year New Amsterdam sold over 5 million cases of vodka. Not bad considering their first bottle was sold in 2011. Read more 
Review: Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka
Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka is crafted with 100% estate grown sweet potatoes by forth generation farmer David John Souza. He named the vodka after his son Corbin. Ten varieties of sweet potatoes are grown on the family farm. David spent a decade experimented with each variety of sweet potato using several different distilling techniques in creating Corbin Sweet Potato Vodka. He found some sweet potatoes tasted better and others produced more alcohol. He found the perfect balance by blending three varieties of sweet potatoes. It takes over ten pounds of sweet potatoes to produce one bottle of spirit. Each potato is hand selected and cured for 12-16 months. The potatoes are ground and cooked for 6 hours, and then fermented with yeast for five days. The spirit is small batch distilled in a 2 column Alembic copper still and filtered slowly through a carbon blend. The spring water used in production is recycled back to the farm for irrigation and the spent mash is used as fertilizer or cattle feed. Read more
Review: Our/Los Angeles Vodka
Our/Vodka is a global family of vodkas made in micro distilleries in city centers around the world. Our/Vodka was started by six entrepreneurs in Stockholm Sweden in 2011. Our/Los Angeles Vodka is the sixth release in the series. An electrically heated copper still with a filling capacity of 15.8 gallons is used to distill a raw wheat distillate sourced from Ahus Sweden. This distillate is contant across all of the sister cities. Each micro distillery then adds their own locally sourced ingredients and unique distilling process in crafting their own personal vodka. Our/Los Angeles Vodka starts with demineralized and deionized Los Angeles city water to achieve a pure starting place for the process. The water, high wine distillate from the alembic and rectified spirit which is sourced from Idaho wheat and fermented with a non GMO strain of yeast that is traditionally used in wine making, are blended in a stainless steel agitating tank that has a maximum filling capacity of 132 gallons to achieve the final product. Once blended the bottles are rinsed and filled in a 375 ml. bottle similar in shape to a bottle of Red Stripe beer, then capped with a crown cap on the bottling machine. Read more
Review: Humboldt Distillery Organic Vodka
Humboldt Distillery Organic Vodka is crafted from organic sugarcane and pristine water sourced from a watershed that originates in old growth redwood forests. The spirit is small batch distilled four times. Humboldt Distillery Organic Vodka is free of glycerin, sweeteners, citrus acid or additives. Abe Stevens founded Humboldt Distillery in 2012. They currently also produces a gold rum, spiced rum, and a cannabis infused vodka. All are certified organic. The Humboldt Distillery has increased distribution of their entire product line to now include 12 states. Read more
Review: Greenbar Tru Vodka
Greenbar Tru Vodka was recently released, replacing Tru Organic Vodka, in The Greenbar Distillery stable of organic spirits. You may have noticed the new package design of their entire product line including Crusoe Rum, IXA Tequila, and Slow Hand Six Woods Whiskey. With Greenbar Tru Vodka the change was more than just cosmetic, they changed the recipe. The husband and wife team of Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Matthew have never been about playing it safe. Since launching Modern Spirits in Monrovia California in 2004 the two have crafted dozen of spirits including rum, vodka, gin, whiskey, and liqueurs. They even killed their first brand Modern Spirits to get out of a horrible distribution contract. Anyone remember Modern Chocolate-Orange or Grapefruit Honey Vodka? Greenbar Tru Vodka is made from three ingredients American organic wheat, California grown organic pomegranate and pure water. The organic wheat and pomegranate are distilled separately in a continuous distillation column still and gently charcoal filtered. They are then blended together. Pure water filtered through reverse osmosis is added to reduce to 80 proof. Read more
Review: Tru Organic Vodka
Tru Organic Vodka is crafted from organic wheat, distilled with a state of the art column still, and gently charcoal filtered. Pure water filtered through reverse osmosis is blended to reduce to proof. The Greenbar Distillery was one of the countries first legal distilleries since the repeal of Prohibition when they opened in Monrovia California in 2004. The distillery relocated to the LA Art District in 2012, and was the first legal distillery to open in Los Angeles. This version of Tru Vodka is no longer produced, but you may still find a bottle at your local liquor stores. The husband and wife team of Melkon Khosrovian and Litty Matthew recently changed the formula and the packaging of this vodka. I will be posting my review of their new Greenbar Tru Vodka tomorrow. Read more
Review: Earth Vodka
Earth vodka is made from corn and is distilled 6 times before it is bottled at the Levecke Distillery in Mira Loma California. Levecke is a Private label producer of dozens spirits. Earth Vodka is a bargain priced vodka. I picked up my 750ml bottle for $7.99 at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa California. The bottles label made from recycled paper describes Earth Vodka as a Premium Gluten Free California Vodka. Read more
Review: St George All Purpose Vodka
St George All Purpose Vodka is one of three vodkas introduced by the St George Distillery in March 2016. The other flavors include California Citrus and Green Chili. The St George Distillery is best known for creating Hangar One Vodka. After selling H-1 to Proximo, and waiting out a non compete agreement, distillers Lance Winter and Dave Smith crafted their latest take on vodka. All Purpose Vodka is based on the pear brandy Jorg Rupf launched the company with in 1982. The Pear Brandy is distilled from Bartlett pears to 95.1 ABV. The resulting distillate is blended with a non-gmo base spirit made from American grain. The vodka is then filtered before bottling at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Bellion Vodka
Bellion Vodka is made with NTX, creating a new category of science meets consumption called functional spirits. Functional spirits reduce the negative aspects of traditional spirits. So far the US Government has not agreed to allow Bellion Vodka to promote these benefits. NTX is a proprietary blend of Glycyrrhizin, Mannitol, and Potassium Sorbate that was developed by a team of PHD’s in the Pharma Industry, commissioned by Harsha Chigurupati. The claim is that it works by blocking the harmful substances in alcohol from reaching the liver. The vodka base is made from a blend of corn and wheat in Fairfield California at Frank-Lin Distillers. The Bellion Spirits company will soon be launching Dera Tequila, and Smoak Bourbon. Read more
Review: Charbay Vodka
Charbay Vodka was introduced in 2002. Charbay was one of the early pioneers in the modern American Artisan distillery movement when they began distilling in California. Master distiller and company founder Miles Karakasevic is a 12th generation distiller. This is a true family craft distillery with Miles wife and co-owner Susan handling packaging and marketing, his son Marko is a 13th generation master distiller, and Marko’s wife Jenni is responsible for social media and distribution. Charbay also crafts whiskey, rum, brandy, and several flavored vodka’s, along with a tequila they craft in Mexico. All of the spirits are hand distilled using proprietary double and triple distillations with 7-10 fraction separation techniques. Their vodka is created with Midwest grown corn and rye that is distilled to 192 proof in a 660 gallon still using a proprietary process. Pure water that has been filtered to 3PPM purity is then blended to reduce to 80 proof. The vodka is then gently filtered without using charcoal, limestone, or filter-agents to preserve the spirits body and mouth feel. Read more