By Susannah Skiver Barton
For most of its life as a regulated spirit in the United States, vodka was required to be devoid of “distinctive character, aroma, taste or color,” according to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. But in 2020, things changed: While vodka is still classed as a neutral spirit, the language restricting its sensory characteristics is gone. Distillers now have the latitude to create vodkas that actually showcase flavor, aroma, and texture from their base ingredients.
Craft distillers are well placed to take advantage of the new rules. While some turn to the traditional vodka substrates of potatoes, corn, or wheat, others are employing more unusual base ingredients—from honey and maple syrup to discarded baked goods—with delightfully unique results.
Baked-In Values
At the beginning of the craft spirits boom, many distillers made vodka as a means to generate cash while more time-intensive products, like whiskey, were in process. Often, they were re-distilling grain neutral spirit (GNS), lending the craft halo to a product with little distinction that was eventually phased out once the brown spirits came of age.
If a craft distiller is offering vodka nowadays, chances are good that it’s actually being made—from fermentation to distillation—in-house. And it’s just as likely that the substrate used for the vodka was chosen for its flavor potential, rather than cost or efficiency.
“We couldn’t find a more expensive sugar source if we tried,” says Don Kolp, head distiller and COO at Vermont Spirits Distilling Co., which makes Vermont Gold Vodka from maple sap. “The first two days of fermentation, I don’t sleep because it’s $10,000 a mash that I have sitting there. We make one uncleanly mistake, and that is a lot of money to pour down the drain.”
The expense is worth it for Vermont Spirits, which originally piped maple sap directly from the trees into the distillery. (Following a move, the distillery now buys maple syrup from a farm down the road and dilutes it to the appropriate Brix level.) The vodka’s singular palate, which Kolp describes as viscous and clean, with hints of butterscotch, intertwines with the company’s “forest to bottle” ethos.
Similarly, for other distillers, showcasing the flavors from a special base ingredient while supporting local agriculture and promoting sustainability are key parts of the formula. Another Vermont distillery, Caledonia Spirits, purchases honey from local apiaries for its vodka base. Some of that honey wouldn’t meet standards for commercial sale, so the distillery’s partnership guarantees income for beekeepers while ensuring its own supply chain remains steady.
Sometimes the substrate is hyper-local. J.T. Meleck Distillery in Branch, Louisiana, is located on a family rice and crawfish farm, where Mike Frugé started making vodka in a year when demand for food rice was low. Using the farm’s surplus rice for spirits has given both businesses added stability. Similarly, at Corbin Cash Distillery in Atwater, California, low prices for sweet potatoes inspired David Souza to start converting some of his crop to vodka. It’s something of a kindred spirit to Helena, Arkansas-based Delta Dirt Distillery’s Sweet Blend Vodka, made from local sweet potatoes and corn. “We were selling thousand-pound bins for like $5 for cattle and hog feed,” Souza says. “That’s where I was like, there’s got to be something better we can do with this.”
But a focus on local ingredients sometimes requires flexibility. At Clear Creek Distillery in Hood River, Oregon, master distiller Caitlin Bartlemay makes vodka from 14 varieties of Pacific Northwest apple, though the exact makeup changes from year to year because of harvest variation. Bartlemay’s challenge is to strike a balance in the mix. “There’s going to be some green apples, some sweet golden apples; we’re going to have some that are a little bit more botanical or floral or acidic,” she says. “That blend of all those different kinds of varieties over time will create a balanced through line of flavor.”
Outside the agricultural realm but still well in line with sustainability goals, Misadventure & Co. in Vista, California, makes vodka from discarded baked goods, collecting expired breads, bagels, muffins, and more from local food banks. “The most surprising thing we’ve thrown in the mix is cheesecake,” says general manager Jeremy Madix.
On-Premise Performance
Local flavor plus the usual challenges of distributing a craft brand lead these vodkas to perform best in their home markets. Distillers say they fit well into farm-to-table restaurants and high-minded craft cocktail bars where the bartender has time to tell the story to guests—and to find the right cocktail to show it off. “When you get somebody who loves mixology, they dive right into it,” Souza says.
Clear Creek offers two vodkas made with its apple base: Clear Creek vodka, which is 100-percent apple, and Timberline, which blends the apple spirit with grain spirit. Bartlemay says that Clear Creek vodka, priced at $40 retail, is a niche player; its botanical, apple-blossom sweetness doesn’t fit well into every kind of vodka cocktail. Timberline, on the other hand, is a “Swiss army knife.”
“We’re able to find a balance between both the nuance that the apple provides as well as the cocktail velcro of a grain-based vodka,” Bartlemay explains. “Its versatility and price point really work to its advantage.” Timberline is priced between $18 and $21 at retail and packaged in an ergonomic bottle designed for the well.
Challenges to Overcome
As with most craft spirits, price can be a sticking point with consumers. More expensive ingredients and the hands-on care that goes into distilling mean that these vodkas sit at least a few dollars above Tito’s—and sometimes significantly more.
“Converting a vodka drinker is really tough these days,” Kolp says. Vermont Gold is priced at $55. “Oftentimes we have people here at the distillery buying a bottle, saying, ‘This is going to be for my really good friends when they come to dinner, and that’s it.’ Which is kind of sad, that a vodka needs to be locked away in a cabinet.”
Another challenge is communicating to consumers that these vodkas are not flavored. Their base ingredients impact the overall palate, but the spirits themselves are, as expected, clean and neutral with no added flavorings or sweeteners. “There is so much that we’re still doing on the education side,” says Bartlemay. “When you say ‘apple,’ unfortunately, there’s an automatic assumption that it’s apple-flavored.”
Once consumers taste the vodka, they understand what makes it special, though Souza notes that it isn’t a guaranteed sales driver. “People try it, and they’re like, ‘That’s so good. I don’t like vodka straight, but I could drink that,’” he says. “The problem is most people don’t drink vodka straight.”
Although J.T. Meleck also makes an acclaimed rice whiskey, the vodka remains the top-seller. Frugé says newcomers often have a negative perception of rice as a spirit base, but they’re quickly converted. “The biggest reaction is shock,” he says. “They’re not expecting it; they don’t want to believe it. We’ve changed the minds of some really difficult customers. The product stands for itself. It holds up to the test.”