Review: Silver Moon Vodka
Silver Moon Vodka was introduced May 2016. It was the first spirit produced at Kerr Creek Distillery in Walton New York. They have since added an Apple Flavored Vodka, Easy Speaker Bourbon, and Ishka Triple Malt Whiskey. Kerr Creek Distillery is a New York State Farm Distillery owned and operated by Matthew and Jessica White and her parents Bob and Loretta Beckman. Silver Moon Vodka is made from a proprietary blend of locally grown potatoes, cane sugar, and fresh mountain spring water. It took several years to find the right blend of potatoes used to craft this vodka. One of the potatoes included is Katahdin, an heirloom variety developed on Presque Isle Maine in 1932. Cane sugar makes the potatoes easier to work with and avoids the need for chemical clearing agents. Read more 
Review: Roofraiser Vodka
Roofraiser Vodka is one of over a dozen spirits crafted at Dented Brick Distillery in South Salt Lake City Utah. Some of the other spirits include Antelope Island Rum, Jan’s Premium Craft Rum, Great Basin Bristlecone Gin, Hugh Moon Whiskey, and Dented Brick Premium Craft Vodka, Gin, and Rum. The distillery was build on land that was once the farm of Utah’s first distiller of record. Hugh Moon produced whiskey in Salt Lake City for early pioneers starting in the 1850’s. Included in the purchase was a brick home where legend has it, during a gunfight that killed the owner on his front porch, the bullets left dents in the bricks. Those bricks were hand removed and are now part of the newly constructed distillery. Roofraiser vodka takes its name from the fact that the newly constructed distillery was not tall enough to house the 28 foot custom copper still they purchased to craft their spirits. The roof was raised to accommodate the still. Roofraiser is made from 50% organic red winter wheat, 50% pumpernickel rye and snow melt water from Utah’s Wasatch Mountains that flows through the earth into their private well. The grain is all non GMO, and is grown in Utah. Roofraiser Vodka is fermented, small batch distilled, and bottled on site. Read more
Review: OYO Original American Character Vodka
OYO Original American Character Vodka is made from 100% Non GMO soft red winter wheat grown within an 80 mile radius of the Middle West Spirits Distillery in Columbus Ohio. It is small batch craft distilled once on a custom Kothe still and bottled unfiltered. The distillery was founded in 2008 by Brady Konya and Ryan Lang. In 2010 they released their first spirit, OYO Vodka. In 2018 they had a brand refresh with a new bottle, new name but the same formula. Middle West Spirits also makes OYO Honey Vanilla Bean, OYO Barrel Finished Honey Vanilla Bean, and OYO Stone Fruit Vodka, along with 2 Ryes, 2 Bourbons, 2 Wheat Whiskeys, and Vim & Petal Dry Gin. Read more
Review: Misadventure Vodka
Misadventure Vodka is the first spirit in the world to be made from surplus baked goods, making Misadventure the first carbon negative spirit. It all started with a chance meeting between Whit Rigali and Samuel Chereskin. Whit the bartender, wanted to create local Southern California spirits and Sam the agricultural economist wanted to find ways to improve the food system. Currently 40% of the food made in the US is never eaten. If food waste were a country it would be the third largest contributor of green house gases behind the US and China. After four years of R&D in a cramped garage Misadventure Vodka was born. Once a week Samuel takes a van to a local food bank and picks up a load of a thousand pounds of bread products the food bank can no longer give away because they are past the sell by date. This includes Twinkies, cupcakes, donuts, cookies, and bread. Each 750 ml bottle of Misadventure Vodka contains about 2 pounds of baked goods. When the bread products arrive at the distillery they are blended with water and yeast to ferment. Once fermented it is distilled 12 times and carbon filtered over 180 times. It is then bottled with zero additives. Read more
Review: Svedka Vodka
Svedka Vodka was launched in 1998 by Guillaume Cuvelier in Lidkoping Sweden. He sold Svedka to Constellation Brands in 2007. It is made from Swedish winter wheat. Four pounds of wheat is needed to produce one 750 ml bottle of Svedka. It is distilled five times in a continuous distillation process. Pure ice cold Swedish spring water is blended to reduce to proof. The spirit is run through high performance purification columns five separate times to remove impurities before bottling at 80 proof. At one time Svedka also produced a 100 proof vodka using the same process. Svedka currently makes 13 flavored vodka’s and they also introduced Svedka Spiked Seltzers a line of canned cocktails that surprisingly contain no vodka. They are made from a malt beverage base. Read more
Review: Indigenous Empire State Wheat Vodka
Indigenous Empire State Wheat Vodka was released in 2010. It is crafted at Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery in Gardiner New York. For 220 years Tuthilltown Gristmill used water power to render local grains to flour. In 2001 Ralph Erenzo purchased the 36 acre parcel of land that was its home. He planed to open Bunks in the Gunks an affordable minimalistic housing opportunity for visiting climbers. After years of legal battles with neighbors who weren’t fond of the idea, Ralph and Brian Lee founded Tuthilltown Spirits LLC. in 2003. They converted one of the mill granaries to a micro-distillery. Their first product was a vodka make from scraps of apple they collected at a local apple slicing plant. Today the distillery produces 6 whiskies, 2 vodkas, 3 liqueurs, gin, and Basement Bitters. Indigenous Empire State Wheat Vodka is made from winter white wheat sourced from local farmers throughout the Hudson Valley. It is triple distilled in a 22 plate hybrid copper pot/column still and bottled unfiltered. Read more
Review: Vapid Vodka
Vapid Vodka is crafted at The Spirit Guild Distillery in Los Angeles California. Wife and Husband team Morgan McLachlan and Miller Duvall launched the distillery in 2012. They introduced Vapid Vodka and Astral Pacific Gin May 2016. Both are made from a 100% clementine base. Miller’s family has been in the Central California agricultural business for six generations. Initially the Miller’s Rio Bravo Ranch near Bakersfield California sent the clementines grown on their farm to the distillery where they were hand juiced using an old wine press. To keep up with demand The Spirit Guild now sources the clementine juice from the juicery used by the family farm. After a four day fermentation the spirit is small batch distilled in a 250 gallon custom Carl Copper Still. After proofing Vapid is bottled unfiltered. This is a true farm to glass distillery as everything from fermentation, distilling, proofing, and bottling is done under one roof. The Spirit Guild describes themselves as a collection of artists, weirdos, and dreamers dedicated to celebrating the fruits and flavors of California through the art of distillation. The distillery is located in the Los Angeles Art District on a site where the states first commercial vineyards and orange groves thrived. Read more
Review: DV8 Vodka
DV8 Vodka is crafted by Deviant Spirits in Boulder Colorado. Jeremy Moyers, Johnathan Tilley, and Rawley Gunnels opened the distillery in 2015. They currently also produce DV8 Gin, DV8 Single Barrel Whisky, and DV8 5 Grain Bourbon. DV8 Vodka is made from 100% medium grain Calrose rice grown in California and pure Rocky Mountain spring water. The process begins in a custom designed Bain Marie style, double boiler mash tun. This style mash tun avoids scorching the rice and causing off-flavors. After fermentation the rice is distilled by hand in a reflux column still 13 times and bottled unfiltered to retain notes of the original mash. Read more
Review: Vavoom Vodka
After years of development and product design Liquor Entrepreneur Luke Battiloro has released Vavoom Vodka to the US market. The signature bottle evokes the figure of a beautiful young woman stretching skyward. It is handcrafted by Bruni Glass in Milan Italy . Priced at $169.99 Vavoom Vodka is the most expensive vodka I’ve had the pleasure of sampling and reviewing. While the price tag may seem a little high, each of us spends more on a per ounce basis for much lower quality vodka each time we order a vodka cocktail at our favorite night club, restaurant, or bar. $169.99 is also a bargain when compared to several top of the line bottles of tequila, whiskey, and wine on the market today. Vavoom is made from 100% corn, distilled five times, and finished 3 times through a coconut activated carbon filtering process. The carbon activated from coconut shells boasts tiny pores which are perfectly sized to trap and filter out the contaminant molecules. While no specific source is given for where Vavoom is crafted, still images provide clues hinting at a distillery in Nova Scotia Canada. Read more
Review: Hollywood Oasis Vodka
Hollywood Oasis Vodka is made from 100% organic Medjool dates grown locally in Coachella Valley California. Hollywood Oasis was named the top vodka at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The Hollywood Oasis Distillery was formed in 2016 by three businessmen Ferris Wehbe, Jeff Zarrinnam, and Larry Neuberg. Each has a long history and ties to Hollywood California. It appears their vodka is currently crafted at R6 Distillery in El Segundo California while their own distillery is being build on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles California. Dates are native to the Middle East with 70% of the worlds production coming from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, and Iraq. In the US, dates are grown in Southern California, Arizona, and Southern Florida. A quick look on Amazon shows you can purchase a 2 pound pack of Coachella Organic Dates for 14.99. This may be the most expensive ingredient distilled in making a vodka. Hollywood Oasis is distilled 20 times and bottled unfiltered. Read more