Review: Timber Creek Vodka
Timber Creek Vodka is crafted at Timber Creek Distillery in Crestview Florida. The Distillery was built on a 1400 acres farm near Destin Florida owned by Aaron Barnes family. Aaron partnered with neighbor Camden Ford in building the distillery, and creating the spirits. They currently also produce gin, rum, flavored rum, and several whiskey’s. Timber Creek Vodka is four times distilled in a custom pot still from 100% Florida grown red soft wheat and Florida limestone spring water pumped directly from the Florida aquifer. The wheat is cracked open and gently cooked to release the sugars. The grain is removed from the lauter tun and only the liquid is fermented. Timber Creek has developed a proprietary distilling and blending technique they call PureBlend. The spirit is filtered with natural charcoal. The vodka then rests for 6 months prior to bottling. 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: 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: Spirit Works Vodka
Spirit Works Vodka is made from organic Northern California grown hard winter wheat. The Spirit Works Distillery located in Sonoma County was founded by the husband and wife team of Timo and Ashby Marshall. Their distillery crafts a full line of spirit including Gin, Sloe Gin, Barrel Aged Gin, Barrel Aged Sloe Gin, Straight Wheat Whiskey, Straight Rye Whiskey, and Four Grain Straight Bourbon. Spirit Works Vodka actually started as the base for their Gin. This explains the 86 proof SWV is bottled at. People liked their gin so much they decided to bottle the gin base on it’s own. In crafting their vodka they start with a whole grain. By doing so they are able to preserve the distinct wheat characteristics throughout the distillation process. The whole hard winter wheat grain is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled and bottled at the distillery for a true grain to glass experience. The distillation takes place on a 800 liter custom Carl still. This hybrid pot still comes with a 21 plate rectification column. Read more
Review: Cinco Vodka
Cinco Vodka was launched in 2010 by Richard Trey Azar III. It is made from 100% Idaho sourced amber wheat and water drawn from the Edwards aquifer which is naturally filtered through Cordova Creme limestone found beneath San Antonio Texas. It is small batch distilled five times in a 530 gallon hand hammered copper kettle still nicknamed Betty, and non charcoal filtered. I first tasted Cinco’s pool side at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort several years ago, and kicked myself for not bringing home a bottle to review. If you have stayed and dined at this Marriott property you will probably understand why I had no time to shop for liquor offsite. When produced Cinco was only available in Texas. I say when produced, because Cinco is no longer produced, it is still available throughout Texas. I picked up my bottle at Specs today. Richard Trey Azar III has since moved on to gin as he felt the vodka market was over saturated. He is now producing the award winning Seersucker Gin. While I’m still in Texas maybe I should pick up a bottle of Seersucker, since I’ve been told for several years, gin is what the cool kids are drinking now. Read more
Review: Ravo Vodka
Ravo Vodka was introduced in the US February 2017. Ravo is a combination of the Swedish words raw and vodka. It is made from winter wheat and is continuously distilled five times in a stainless steel column still lined with ceramic filters. The spirit is then blended with locally sourced natural spring water further filtered through reverse osmosis to reduce to 80 proof. Ravo is made in Lidkoping Sweden at Reppe Branneri, the second largest distillery in Sweden. Read more
Review: Loft and Bear Vodka
Loft and Bear Vodka was crafted in the heart of the Los Angeles Art District. It is currently produced by another distillery to the same specifications while their new distillery is being built. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill Paul Ryan, aka Bear embarked upon a journey to create a vodka purely for the challenge of developing something unique. The summer of 2014 in a loft in downtown LA, he did just that. Loft and Bear is made from soft organic winter wheat and California sourced spring water. At launch it was crafted in a 30 liter copper pot column still. It was distilled four times and filtered once. Once open the new distillery will distill the vodka in a 1300 liter pot and column still. Read more
Review: Boot Hill Vodka
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oot Hill Vodka is crafted in the former Dodge City Kansas Municipal building that was build in 1929, and once housed city hall, a municipal courtroom, jail, Fire Department, and Police Department. The Boot Hill Distillery is owned by Roger and Hayes Kelman and Chris Holovach. These farmers produce every single grain used to produce their spirits. They plant, harvest, mill, mash, ferment, distill, and bottle each spirit. They also produce Gin, White Whiskey, Red Eye Whiskey, Bourbon, and Bitters. Boot Hill Vodka is made from 100% wheat. The spirit is distilled in 500 gallon batches in a custom crafted pot still/column still. Read more
Review: Chicago Vodka
Chicago Vodka was first released July 2016. It is handcrafted in the heart of Chicago on Goose Island by the Chicago Vodka Company. They also produce Chicago Fire, a vodka infused with Bhut Jolokia Ghost peppers. They previously also produced Cool, a mint infused vodka. Chicago Vodka is made from wheat and is distilled five times and filtered nine times through a patent-pending filtration system that allows only 30 liters per hour of filtration flow. It takes five full days to filter one batch of 600 bottles. The vodka is then hand bottled and hand corked at 80 proof in a cylindrical shaped bottle that brings memories of Skyy 90. Read more