Review: Cold River Vodka
Cold River Vodka was introduced in 2005. It is crafted along with a Blueberry vodka, a Barrel Aged vodka, and a gin at Maine Distilleries in Freeport Maine. While many vodkas made from a potato base use potato starch, Cold River Vodka is made from whole Yukon Gold, Russet, and White potatoes grown on the Green Thumb Farm owned by Donnie Thibodeau. He is one of the distilleries four partners that include his brother, a neurosurgeon at Maine Medical Center. The whole potatoes arrive at the distillery washed and in 2000 pound bags. 3-4 of these bags are dumped into a 1475 gallon kettle where they are steamed and cooked in filtered water. The potatoes are then fermented with yeast, before being triple distilled in a 1000 liter copper pot still. Water from Maine’s Cold River aquifer is filtered and blended with the vodka to reduce to 80 proof. Cold River Vodka is then bottled onsite. Read more 
Review: Whiskey Acres Farm Crafted Vodka
Whiskey Acres Farm Crafted Vodka was released March 2016. The vodka was previously only sold onsite at their DeKalb Illinois Distillery. They also produce a corn whiskey, bourbon, and rye whiskey. This is a true seed to spirit distillery with all of the grain needed to craft their spirits coming from the 2000 acres they farm. The distillery is run by father and son farmers Jim and Jamie Walter, and their partner Nick Nagle. Imagine if Pablo Picasso had been limited to painting with only a two color palette. The results would have been very different. That is the same logic used in crafting this vodka. With dozens of corn varieties to experiment with, all grown according to their own strict standards, they were able to select the best corn variety to craft their vodka with. They looked for disease resistance, natural in-field dry-down, test weight, starch content, and flavor of the final product, as only some of the criteria in selecting this variety. If you thought I was going to mention the corn variety used to craft this vodka you would be wrong. This is one of the magic pixie dust secrets that makes Whiskey Acres Vodka taste truly unique and special. Most consumers think of corn as corn, and most corn vodka producers are at the mercy of using what ever corn their suppliers deliver. Whiskey Acres Vodka is distilled in a custom made 500 gallon Vendome still. After an initial stripping run on about 10 batches where the spirit is distilled to around 150-160 proof, enough spirit is available to put back in the still for a finishing run. The vodka is very slowly distilled again for 40-60 consecutive hours. The vodka is blended to proof with water from a naturally filtered limestone aquifer that sits below the distillery. After being continuously carbon filtered for 24-48 hours the vodka is hand bottled onsite by the ownership team and volunteers. Read more
Review: Grand Teton Vodka
Grand Teton Vodka was introduced in 2012. It is crafted from Idaho potatoes, grown within 25 miles of the distillery. The vodka is distilled the equivalent of 20 times and then freeze filtered 6 times with charcoal and garnet crystal. Pure Rocky Mountain spring water is blended to reduce to 80 proof. The Grand Teton Distillery is family owned. They also produces a huckleberry, and cherry flavored vodka, a 100 proof vodka and a few whiskeys, and moonshine’s. Read more
Review: Batch 206 Vodka
Batch 206 Vodka is made from 100% corn. This vodka was previously made with a red winter wheat base. The Batch 206 Distillery opened in Seattle March 2012. It is owned and operated by Jeff and Dallen Steichen. They also craft gin, bourbon, whiskey and moonshine. Batch 206 vodka is distilled in a 1000 liter handmade German Kothe Still. The vodka is then filtered for 206 hours in a charcoal polishing regimen using coconut shell charcoal. The vodka is further subjected to a pharmaceutical grade filtration. Pure water that measures Absolute 7 on the pH scale is blended to reduce to 80 proof before hand bottling and labeling. Read more
Review: 44 North Idaho Potato Vodka
44 North Idaho Potato Vodka is one of 5 vodkas crafted at the Distilled Resources Distillery in Rigby Idaho under the 44 North label. The brand was launched in 2005 by Ken Wyatt and Ron Zier. The other 4 vodka varieties include Mountain Huckleberry, Rainer Cherry, Sunny Slope Nectarine, and Magic Valley Wheat. The Distilled Resources distillery creates vodka for several brands including Teton Glacier, American Harvest, Square One, and Blue Ice. 44 North Idaho Potato is made with 100% Idaho Burbank and Russet potatoes. 9 Pounds are needed to create one 750ml bottle. After a five column multi plate distillation the vodka is blended with Rocky Mountain water from a 200 foot deep Snake River aquifer. Read more
Review: Boardroom Vodka
Boardroom Vodka was launched with the opening of the Boardroom Distillery in Lawnsdale Pennsylvania. The distillery is in a warehouse that once housed the Tyco Fire Production Products CO. They also current craft a Fresh Cranberry, and Fresh Citrus Vodka, a rum, gin, and a 100% Real Beet distilled 90 proof spirit. The company was founded by three former road warriors, brothers Marat and Vlad Mamedov, and Marat’s wife Zsuzsa. Boardroom Vodka is made from locally grown 100% Non GMO corn. The corn is fermented with yeast in temperature controlled closed top tanks and distilled in a custom built Hagyo Distilling Company still made in Miskole Hungary. The vodka is filtered and blended with water before it is hand bottled at the distillery. After receiving a Double Gold Medal from The Fifty Best, in the domestic vodka category, I thought I would give Boardroom Vodka a try.. Read more
Review: Ceres Vodka
Ceres Vodka is one of two spirits launched with the opening of Chicago Distilling Company January 2014. Chicago Distilling Company is a female owned family operated craft distillery led by the wife and husband team of Noelle and Jay DiPrizio, and Jay’s brother Vic. The inspiration for opening the distillery came in the form of moonshining ancestors in the backwoods of Wisconsin. Chicago Distilling Company is located in the Logan Park neighborhood of Chicago Illinois. Ceres Vodka is named for the Roman Goddess of Grain and it is made from 100% Illinois Yellow corn and double distilled. The distillery currently also crafts Finns Gin, Finns Barrel Aged Gin, Several Single Malt Whiskeys, Blind Tiger Rye, Blind Tiger Bourbon, and Lanfrays Trigger Absinthe. Our initial post of Ceres Vodka mysteriously disappeared but I was able to save our reviewing notes which we have reposted below. Since our initial post they have added 2 lines of canned cocktails including Club 88 Vodka Spritzers and a line of 10% craft cocktails using Ceres Vodka and Finns Gin. Read more
Review: Woody Creek Vodka
Woody Creek Vodka is crafted in Basalt Colorado. Woody Creek Distillers was formed by three longtime friends Mary and Pat Scanlon and Mark Kleckner. They began production October 2012 and opened their 10,000 foot distillery to the public March 2013. They also craft a Reserve vodka made from Stobrawa potatoes, a straight rye, and a gin. Woody Creek Vodka is made from Rio Grande Russet, Chipeca, and Lady Claire potatoes grown on the Scanlon family farm located 8 miles from the distillery. This allows the potatoes to be washed and peeled the sames day they are harvested. 13 pounds of these potatoes are needed to produce one bottle of Woody Creek vodka. Locally sourced yeast is added and the potatoes are fermented in stainless steel tanks. A single distillation follows in a custom copper stainless steel Carl Distilling system crafted in Goepingen Germany. This still features two 34 foot tall rectification columns, each with 21 bubble plates. Mountain spring water softened and filtered through reverse osmosis is blended with the vodka to reduce to 80 proof. Read more
Review: Crater Lake Reserve Vodka
Crater Lake Reserve Vodka is crafted at the Bendistillery in Bend Oregon. While Batch 333 was created as another batch of Crater Lake Vodka, by mistake the vodka was left to filter over 100 times through charcoal and crushed lava rock. The result was a vodka with extraordinary purity and smoothness. This vodka was originally sold as Diamond 100 Vodka. Now named Crater Lake Reserve, it is made from corn and distilled five times. After filtering 100 times through charcoal and crushed lava rock, pure Cascade Mountain water is blended to reduce to 80 proof. The vodka is then briefly rested in oak before bottling. 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