Review: Vinn Vodka
Vinn Vodka was the first vodka distilled from rice produced, distilled, and bottled in the US. The Vinn Distillery in Wilsonville Oregon is a family owned distillery that opened in 2009. The Vinn name comes from the middle name the five LY siblings share. The family also produces Baijiu, the National drink of China. Vinn is crafted from Non-GMO Calrose white rice grown in Northern California. They use a seventh generation family recipe coupled with modern technology. Vinn Vodka is made in small batches on a column still. Once distilled the spirit enters a circulation carbon filtration system for 10-12 hours prior to bottling. Read more 
Review: Kanpeki Vodka
Kanpeki Vodka is crafted in Branchville New Jersey. Brothers Gordon and Mike Geerhart left their construction jobs in 2015 and transformed a 125 year old building once used to store bales of grain into the Milk Street Distillery. At one time a creamery was located across the street and serves as the inspiration for the distilleries name. In the distilleries tasting room you will find a couple of photos from the Creamy strike of 1955. Striking workers are seen dumping milk and farmers are fighting back with baseball bats. The distillery opened January 2017 and Kanpeki Vodka was launched September 2018. It is double distilled from polished grains of pure white rice and is double filtered through a variety of carbons. Kanpeki is a Japanese word that means perfection. Several spirits including War Penny Bourbon, Dam Break Rye, Caraway Rye, Last Vestige Malt Whiskey, Blind Bettie Gin, Black Vulture Vodka and Wooden Leg Rum are also distilled and bottled here. 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: Bedlam Vodka
Bedlam Vodka was released June 2017, but the story starts in the mid 1800’s during the Irish Potato famine. Because of the scarcity of potatoes, and to avoid paying the corn tax, the ancestors of co-founder Scott Russ imported rice and created a poitin recipe. His family later tweaked this recipe during prohibition to produce a moonshine sold in Alabama and Georgia. Scott heard these stories and more importantly, learned the recipe from a relative who helped produce the moonshine as a child. This recipe served as a starting point in crafting Bedlam Vodka. Bedlam is named for the region in Ireland where Scotts family first began making their Poteen. It is distilled from long grain white rice, harvested in Arkansas and Louisiana at Graybeard Distillery in Durham North Carolina. The rice arrives in 2000 pound totes. It takes 1.5 pounds of long grain rice to produce one bottle of Bedlam Vodka. After the rice is cooked down to a mash, it is fermented with a proprietary yeast for 9-11 days. 15 different strains of yeast were tried before selecting this one. A single distillation follows in a unique custom built cube chamber reflux column still made in the Netherlands. The spirit is gently carbon filtered only once. Water filtered through reverse osmoses is blended to reduce to proof and the vodka rests for 15 days before bottling. Bedlam is a true grain to glass vodka. The rice enters the distillery as a grain, and 25 days later leaves the distillery bottled at 80 proof. Read more
Review: Haku Vodka
Haku Vodka was just launched in the US by Beam Suntory. They also released Roku Gin, a gin made with 6 Japanese botanicals. Haku translates to white in English, to represent white rice. It is made from 100% Japanese white rice in Kagoshima Kyushu, a region historically famous for its rice spirit making. The process begins with white rice fermented with Koji mold to create a mash. Koji mold is also used to make sake. The mash is distilled through pot stills. The rice spirit is then distilled through two different processes in a pot still and column still. The spirit is then blended and filtered through bamboo charcoal in Osaka Japan. Bamboo charcoal has three times more porous cavities per gram than other wood charcoal. The curved lines on the Haku bottle represent the streams glistening through Japanese nature, and represent Japan’s four seasons. Read more