GRAZED Vodka is a forthcoming brand using milk whey as the distillate base for a new vodka. Kristiane Weeks‑Rogers of CRAFT SPIRITS magazine (CSM) sat down with the people behind GRAZED Vodka: Gianluca de Berardinis (President/Co-Founder) and Mark Nigbur (Master Distiller).
Their shared vision transforms overlooked whey from Georgia’s dairy farms into a premium, upcycled spirit. This conversation explores how authenticity, sustainability, and innovation are redefining what “craft” means in the modern vodka landscape with GRAZED Vodka.
de Berardinis: I was consulting for a dairy farm in Waynesboro, Georgia, just outside of Augusta, basically farm country. There are a lot of dairy farms, and I was introduced to 365-day pasture-grazing cows, happy cows living long lives and producing the best milk because they’re treated humanely. The farm I consulted for was one of the first certified humane dairy farms in America.
In my prior life in financial services, the company was looking to go public, and I was helping with that. Fast forward about a year and a half ago, a childhood friend in the spirits industry received a sample of vodka from England made from whey. He told me it was one of the best he’d ever tried. I looked it up and saw beautiful images of cows on pasture, and thought: we have access to something similar here in Georgia. Could we do this? The answer was yes.
We brought in his trusted master distiller, who confirmed it was a viable way to create a new product. That’s where the journey began. As we looked deeper, we realized no one else was doing this, and the story behind it was even more important: farming, faith, family, and community. In this generation of AI, where everything feels artificial, we wanted to educate consumers on going back to basics.
In wine, people understand the basics: red or white, Cabernet or Chardonnay. But in spirits, most people don’t know where their rum, vodka, or gin comes from. This gives us a chance to champion the base of our product: the cow. The dairy industry is over a hundred billion dollars, producing yogurt, cheese, milk, so we explored making vodka from milk.
Of course, anything with fermentable sugars can be distilled, but we learned quickly that vodka should be made from whey, not milk. So I needed a cheese producer. I found one in Georgia, close to the cows, and learned that it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese, leaving behind whey. The cheese industry is worth over $50 billion, but a lot of that whey is discarded or used for animal feed. We saw an opportunity to upcycle this overlooked commodity into a premium spirit.
Our master distiller has over 22 years of experience and proprietary technology. When the three of us — my childhood friend, Mark, and I — came together, we realized we could do this with integrity and potentially disrupt a stale category. Most brands rely on celebrity endorsements. Our celebrity is the cow.
We partnered with Sweet Grass Dairy in Georgia, a family-owned, award-winning cheese producer. Our bottles will feature ear tags like those used on dairy cows, a nod to authenticity.
Every day is an education. I’ve learned that “six times distilled” doesn’t mean better. Mark distills once (because if your base is pure, you don’t need to overwork it. It’s like cooking a beautiful cut of steak six times) it wouldn’t make it better.
We’re exploring a different avenue, staying authentic to our base and our story. The cheese producers we work with are nationally recognized, and together we’re upcycling whey into something special.
This is our “why.” Like Tesla challenged automakers, we’re offering an alternative in a $40 billion vodka market, focusing on farming, community, and authenticity. Our marketing will include coasters shaped like ear tags with “Did you know?” facts: like how a cow drinks five gallons of water to make one gallon of milk. It’s all about education.
We’ve been well received in Augusta. The community is proud, and we’ll soon have a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the mayor. We’re close to our base commodity, so we don’t need to import anything. Georgia first, then national expansion.
Nigber: I like to think I’m the celebrity, with my son as my sidekick, not the cow.
Not many people work with whey. It’s more common in New Zealand, Australia, and England. I became known for distilling vodka from pineapple juice in Maui. My son and I started in Colorado making grain vodka in a glass still I designed and patented over twenty years ago. We were recruited to Maui to make pineapple vodka, not flavored, just using pineapple sugar as the base.
I wanted something pharmaceutical-grade: pure ethanol blended with the best water for the cleanest vodka possible. That’s what we achieved with PAU Vodka in Maui.
When Gianluca asked if I could make vodka from whey, I said, “Yes, anything with sugar or starch can be distilled.”
The mash smells like champagne and fresh-cut grass. It’s super clean. The vodka is superior, one of the cleanest I’ve ever distilled. I drink vodka neat or on the rocks, so purity matters. My son, who’s been distilling since he was 18, created a world-class gin, maybe we’ll explore that next.
Right now, we’re focused on GRAZED and producing the world’s best vodka.
CSM: Does distilling with whey add to the sensory experience?
Nigber: It adds a creamier mouthfeel, not a milk taste, but a smooth texture. More importantly, it’s incredibly clean and simple to work with.
CSM: You mentioned your patented glass distillation process. Some distillers say copper removes impurities, how do you respond?
Nigber: Copper is part of our process when stripping alcohol from the mash, but the finishing still is glass (a still I patented) and surgical-grade stainless steel. If copper were the purest material, pharma companies would use it, but they use borosilicate glass. That’s what our stills are made of.
de Berardinis: Our packaging reflects our agricultural roots: boxes labeled “Sustainable” and “Rooted,” emphasizing grass-fed dairy. Music is also part of Augusta’s culture, so we’re blending agriculture and art.
We’re focused on Georgia now, with distribution already set up. During the Masters, we created gift boxes with mini bottles and cheese from Sweet Grass Dairy. The box read: “Welcome to Augusta. Please enjoy our Grazed Vodka, ultra-premium, locally crafted, and thoughtfully distilled from cow’s whey, not grain. Paired with Georgia’s own award-winning Sweet Grass Dairy Gouda.”
Our tagline: “Whey better. Whey different.”
The marketing is organic. Everyone knows the cow, and we’re making whey part of everyday conversation.