Review: Hard Truth Original Vodka
Hard Truth Original Vodka is hand crafted from wheat on a Vendome Copper & Brass Works still in Nashville Indiana. They began distilling spirits in 2015 on the second floor of their Big Woods Restaurant before moving to a state of the art distillery in 2017. The 18,000 square foot distillery is surrounded by 325 acres of native forests. They currently craft about a dozen spirits including gin, whiskey, flavored whiskey, rum, flavored rum, cream liqueurs, vodka, and flavored vodka. Read more 
Review: Two Sisters Vodka
Two Sisters Vodka is crafted from organic wheat and pure unprocessed water drawn from a underground spring, 600 feet deep in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains at the Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery located five miles from Lake George New York. They grind the grain themselves and small batch triple distill on a custom German built Copper Kothe still. Prior to bottling the spirit passes through a charcoal filter bed. The Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery opened their doors December 2014 and they currently also craft bourbon, rye, gin, moonshine and several liqueurs. Read more
Review: J Carver Vodka
J Carver Vodka is one of two vodka’s crafted at the J Carver Distillery in Waconia Minnesota. The other vodka, Lake House is made from a blend of rye, corn, and wheat. J Carver Vodka is made from locally sourced winter wheat grown in Glencoe Minnesota and pure limestone filtered water. The spirit is distilled in a custom copper double column still built in Germany. This local farm to glass distillery produces all of their spirits onsite. Their other crafted spirits include whiskey, gin, brandy, aquavit, and liqueurs. J Carver was named for Minnesota explorer Johnathan Carver. Carver is also the county in Minnesota where their spirits are crafted. The distillery was founded in 2012 by Bill Miller. His brother Matt Miller was a distiller for Catskill Distilling Company in New York. Read more
Review: Down East Vodka
Down East Vodka is made from a unique strain of organic wheat grown on a fifth generation family farm in Paxton Illinois. The three Glazik Brothers, Dallas, Clayton, and Will have partnered with Stumpy Spirits Distillery in Columbia Illinois to craft their spirit. The brothers haul 2.5 tons of their own grown wheat to Stumpy’s and they process the grain into vodka. The process takes 3 weeks and when complete the brothers drive down and bottle the vodka and return with it to Paxton Illinois. The Down East name comes from the wheat fields being located east of their farmstead. Clay Glazik designed the bottle with a Silver Tree Logo, a tribute to their Irish heritage. Read more
Review: Skaalvenn Vodka
Skaalvenn Vodka is one of four spirits hand crafted at the Skaalvenn Distillery in Brooklyn Park Minnesota. The others include Skaalvenn Rum, Habanero Rum, and Aquavit. They also bottle a bourbon but that is distilled in Indiana. Tyson and Mary Schnitker started distilling in 2015 and have grown the business significantly since opening. They now also operate a Japanese Cocktail Bar serving craft cocktails made from their craft spirits. The Skaalvenn name is actually a Norweigen greeting which translates to “Cheers friends” in English. Skaalvenn Vodka is made from locally grown wheat. When they started crafting their spirits they knew they wanted to make their vodka from wheat but they had trouble finding a source so they placed an add in Craigslist. Fourth Generation farmer Scott Lee responded and after touring his family owned Lee’s Seed Farm in Benson Minnesota they knew they had found their local source for wheat. After harvesting, the wheat is milled and delivered to the distillery where they mash and ferment the wheat and yeast for three days. The spirit is distilled in two different stills including a custom copper still. The vodka is carbon filtered before hand bottling. Read more
Review: Skyy Vodka 2021
Skyy Vodka was launched 1992. In 2021 they updated their bottle and recipe. When Skyy was released in 1992 the American distilled vodka competition was Smirnoff and a handful of discount brands. Brand creator Maurice Kanbar developed a new distillation process that removed most of the congeners. Congeners are the natural by-product of alcohol production blamed for bitter taste and hangovers. The vodka was quadruple distilled and triple filtered through California limestone. Water filtered through reverse osmosis was blended to reduce to proof. Skyy enlisted the help of chemists, professional bartenders and a water sommelier when the decision was made to update the brand. It appears Skyy Vodka 2021 is made from the same wheat base, is quadruple distilled and triple filtered through reverse osmosis. Instead of using water filtered through reverse osmosis, water enriched by Pacific minerals sourced from the San Francisco Bay area is used to reduce to proof. Read more
Review: Arbor Wheat Vodka
Arbor Wheat Vodka is crafted at Ann Arbor Distilling Company in Ann Arbor Michigan. At one time they also produced Walter Hill Vodka, a vodka distilled from corn. The Ann Arbor Distilling Company produces several Arbor Seasonal Gins, Fox River Bourbon, Rye, and Michigan Whiskey, Spaulding’s Peppermint Schnapps & Coffee Liqueur, Walter Hill Fruit Liqueurs and Absinthe. Rob Cleveland and Ari Sussman built the distillery in a former flour mill originally constructed in 1924. John Britton is now the Lead Distiller. Arbor Wheat is made from wheat grown on Wing Farms located five miles from the distillery. It is single distilled on a copper and stainless steel custom Carl still built in Germany. Arbor Wheat Vodka is bottled unfiltered. Read more
Review: Akva Vodka
Akva Vodka recently arrived on shelves at Total Wine and More stores throughout the US. Priced at $11.99 for a 750 ML bottle in Brookfield Wisconsin, Akva is a value priced vodka. It is made from organic Swedish wheat grown in local fields and mineral rich water from Vanern, Sweden’s biggest Lake. It is distilled five time in Sweden and bottled in The Netherlands. Svedka is also a value priced vodka distilled five times and made from Swedish wheat. I’m interested in how the two compare. Read more
Review: Wiggly Bridge Vodka
Wiggly Bridge Vodka was released in 2016. It is crafted at Wiggly Bridge Distillery in York Maine. The distillery and vodka are named for The York Maine Wiggly Bridge, the smallest pedestrian suspension bridge in America. The bridge was built in 1930 and the 75 foot long bridge runs from shore to shore over the York River on one side and Barrell Mill Pond on the other. Father and son team David and David Woods first built a 15 gallon pit still and made bush rum from molasses, sugar cane, and fruits from the rain forest while at their winter residence on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat. Their success there lead to them building a distillery they opened on Repeal Day 2013 in their home town of York Maine. Vodka was the third spirit they produced. Besides Vodka they also produce premium agave spirits, dry gin, rum, and whiskey. Wiggly Bridge Vodka is small batch distilled in a home made 60 gallon traditional pot still from French wheat. Read more
Review: Pristine Vodka
Pristine Vodka was introduced into the US in 2009. In 1989 Alex Bratslavsky left Ukraine to share a piece of the American dream with his family. While he was able to realize his dream of making a living and raising a family in the US he was disappointed in the lackluster premium vodka available in the US. Alex spent years organizing a dream team of Agriculturalists and Master Distillers to craft Pristine. Pristine Vodka is made in Ukraine from Ukrainian wheat and pure icy cold Carpathian Mountain spring water. It is distilled five times and gravity charcoal filtered from three stories high a total of five times before bottling at 80 proof. Read more