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News - USA: American vodka makers go organic, skip flavors

Written by Niels Thrap

USA: American vodka makers go organic, skip flavors

Source: courierpress.com
By Aimee Blume

I shouldn't have been surprised when, with New Years' Eve in mind, I went out to find what people are putting in their cocktails this year and found the answer was: nothing.

The trend pendulum is always swinging. It seems odd to think that not that many years ago, mass-produced items were sought after as status symbols. If it was scientifically and mechanically produced, it was cool.

A 1952 ad hanging at the Riverside Zesto promises customers that Zesto ice cream is "pasteurized, homogenized, and laboratory controlled... from the most sanitary of ice cream machines."

At that time, the Depression wasn't so far in the past and if you bought your wine already bottled and your bread already sliced, it meant you didn't have to make it yourself.

Swing forward to the '80s through the first years of the 21st century, when bland, identical products suddenly shifted toward the individual — outrageously individual. It was the era when sushi became popular in the United States, fusion cuisine was introduced, and popularity grew for habanero peppers and modern, neon liqueurs such as HPNTIC.

Swing a little farther — or way, way back — to today, when the word "artisan" has become so ubiquitous as a food and beverage marketing tool that it practically has lost its meaning. Now it's cool to eat and drink simply, sustainably, locally and organically.

"The drink this year seems to be vodka," said chef and caterer Doug Rennie. "Good vodka, though. Flavored vodkas are out. Nobody's asking for them and nobody's getting cheap vodka, either. They want really high-end stuff."

These new, coveted high-end spirits are in many instances made in America. As in other areas of food production, American distilleries have gone back to quality roots and smaller operations, preparing spirits from organic, local grains and water.

"I have a distributor that works just with the small artisan brewers and distilleries that don't have the big dollars to spend on advertising," Rennie said. "He's selling a lot, really a lot of high-end whiskeys, bourbon, vodka. There's Death's Door gin from Wisconsin (organic, made with wheat grown on one Wisconsin Island), Square One Organic Vodka (made with organic rye from Idaho), and a French Gin (G'vine) that's made with grapes. And people aren't asking us to make fancy cocktails with it. They're drinking it neat or on the rocks."

The feel of it is a sort of nouvelle cuisine of liquor.

Libby Seward, bartender and server at Downtown's remodeled Peephole, agrees.

"We have a lot of whiskey drinkers here," she said, "and we've been selling a lot of high-end bourbon and some good Irish whiskey. They're drinking it neat — Basil Hayden's is a straight Bourbon from the Jim Beam family; it's only 80 proof, so it's really good for sipping. We also sell Redbreast, which is a single, one-pot Irish whiskey. We have it aged 12 and 15 years."

One of the Peephole's best-selling spirits and one of Seward's favorites is another American product — American Harvest Vodka.

"The man who makes American Harvest was the original owner of Grey Goose," she said. "He signed a non-competition contract for eight years after he sold the company, but when the time passed he started making American Harvest. It competes on the level of Grey Goose, but it's different; the flavoring ingredients in it are secret. It's not a flavored vodka, though. A good vodka essentially is odorless and doesn't really have flavor, but it's got a very crisp, clean taste and is easy to drink on the rocks. Another good thing is that it's not as expensive. It's very, very good quality, yet it's approachable."

Although American Harvest is sold with the vodkas, it prefers to call itself an "organic spirit." The alcohol is distilled from organic wheat, then mixed with Snake River water and a blend of secret "organic proprietary ingredients," and finally filtered through charcoal.

The minimalist approach to cocktails is evident on the American Harvest website. Harvest on the rocks, a classic Harvest martini, Harvest and tonic and Harvest and club soda top the list, but following are a few recipes using locally available artisan spirits for the cocktail lover.