Review: True North Rye Vodka
True North Rye Vodka is mashed, distilled, and bottled at Grand Traverse Distillery in Traverse City Michigan. GTD also crafts a vodka made from wheat and 3 flavored vodka’s made from that wheat vodka base. Ken Rabish grew up on a small family farm in Pinconning Michigan. He opened Grand Traverse Distillery in 2005. His son Landis is the Master Distiller. Besides vodka they produce 2 gins, 9 whiskey’s, and 2 rums. All are made with local ingredients. True North Rye is a 100% straight Polish style rye vodka. It is made from rye grown on the Send Brothers farm in nearby Williamsburg Michigan. The milled rye is fermented for 3-5 days and small batch distilled on a 1200 liter copper reflux still custom made in Germany by Arnold Holstein. The 16 plate still evaporates and condenses 1600 times. The spirit is gently filtered and brought to proof with glacial water from the Great Lakes, and bottled onsite. The aroma leads with bread dough and citrus. Additional time brings out rye, toffee, and black pepper. The sweet citrus and toasted grain entry is joined by caramel building to a toffee and spicy rye peak. It fades with lemon citrus and finishes with black pepper, mineral, toasted rye, and lemon peel.
Made in Traverse City Michigan
40% Alcohol
Score: 92
Award: Gold Medal