Dry Land Distillers has created something that we’ve always said we’d never do - a Dry Land Distillers Vodka. Vodka is a complicated spirit. It’s typically created from cheap, commodity ingredients, is distilled to a point where all flavor is completely stripped away, and is used by the food and beverage world to create uninspired, low-quality cocktails that are purely about the bottom line.
Over the past eight years, I’ve been approached by a good number of patrons and professionals alike who have made a solid case for a Dry Land Vodka. Their points are valid – couldn’t we create a vodka that fits within the overall Dry Land portfolio? After all, vodka can be a pristine spirit. It’s certainly unforgiving – any flaw, any weakness in the original ingredients will carry through and become a highlight of the final product. Vodka offers no place to hide. It’s the very essence of the ingredients used to create the spirit.
Vodka can be a challenge for craft distillers. It’s a resource and equipment nightmare. It requires specialized equipment, lots of power, and loads of patience. Distilling vodka requires we reach 95% alcohol (190 proof), a level that has always been impractically high for our traditional equipment. That changed recently when Dry Land upgraded our original gin still. We needed a larger column to keep up with our ever-increasing demand for our award-winning gin.
The production team noted that our upgraded equipment could easily produce vodka. Still, I was not convinced. It didn’t feel right, and it would mean entering a world where there are more cheap spirits brands than there are gallons of vodka.
It wasn’t until we were preparing our plans for our annual reset (a deep cleaning, repairing, and resetting process we do every January) that an interesting opportunity came up. The team brought to my attention several containers of high proof distillate from test runs that we had stashed in the back of the production area. None of it was finished, but the origins were fantastic – it was all made from 100% regenerative organic wheat from the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Even better, it was made from heirloom grain that is one of the finest, most delicious varieties of wheat in the world.
There were also practical reasons to try it. We needed the tanks for other things. It would help dial in the new gin still – a double bonus. So why not experiment? I relented, agreeing that we could at least use the vodka for experimentation and crafting new cocktails behind the bar.
Fast forward three weeks. Every Tuesday, the team gets together for a tasting panel. We pull barrel samples, check on the aging status, take notes about the spirits, and refine our palates to select and proof down spirits ready for the bottle. In the mix was a mystery sample of a crystal-clear spirit, oddly out-of-place among the caramel-colored bottles of whiskey. The nose was bright, clean, and barely there. The first sip brought out a delicate touch of sweetness, almost like hints of burnt caramel. Hints of black pepper added a complex zing before it blossomed into a slightly nutty, grassy middle. It finished with a lovely snap without the classic sharpness of commercial vodka.
This was good. Not just good – this was delightful. I could taste and experience the grain in an entirely new way. For the first time, we have a Dry Land Vodka that exceeds every expectation.
This may seem to be a straightforward origin story with a simple result. But it’s representative of a much larger and more complex set of issues that surround our agriculture and food systems. Vodka is the embodiment of all that is broken in agriculture. A vast majority of commercial vodka brands originate from a handful of massive, commoditized distilleries that use highly modified, monoculture grains. Its production is resource intensive, relies on crops that are designed to increase yield at all costs and as cheaply as possible, with little or no regard for the health of the soil, the impact on our environment, or the sustainability of our farms and communities. Vodka was also originally developed to be “treated—often with charcoal—to be without distinctive character, aroma, or taste.”
So yeah. I’ve had issues with vodka.
But maybe we can be a force for good. Today, we have the chance to show the world that there’s a different way – a different product – that flips the script. This first run of Dry Land vodka is radically different from any other. It is delicious; it has character, depth, flavor, balance, and integrity.
It’s not an inexpensive vodka, and it shouldn’t be. We are using heirloom grains that are the opposite of commodity crops. They are certified regenerative organic grains, and the farms are seeing constant improvements in soil health, water use, and habitat sustainability. Farmers are getting paid enough to sustain – not just survive. They can plant other heirloom grains, experiment with long-lost varieties that have unique flavors and characteristics.
And it’s a beautiful spirit. It’s no longer a stereotype. It’s a love letter, an acknowledgement that change is possible, that something good can be created even when the odds are stacked against us. And it’s a reminder for me not to get discouraged and accept the status quo – something I sorely need right now.
I hope you’ll join me by embracing this limited release. There are only 100 bottles of this inaugural batch. We’ll be offering tastings and cocktails on Valentine’s Day, the perfect time to release this love letter to our world. You can also pre-order bottles starting February 14th. Bottles will be available in March at an official release party, open exclusively to those who purchase a bottle—after all, something like this deserves to be celebrated.
I can’t wait to raise a glass with you.
