Grizzly Growler

Take your pick, barley, wheat, potato, sugar beats, chances are you’ll find a vodka on the shelves made from any one of several traditional and not-so-traditional products these days. Especially from around our little corner of the northwestern United States. Between Idaho, Washington and now Montana, micro distilleries are popping up like microbreweries have in [...]

Seems I’m a little late to this game, but another craft distillery has opened in Montana. Flathead Distillers, owned and operated by Dave and Nancy Lehenky of Eureka, produces small-batch vodka made from sugar beets. Dave Lehenky said he wanted to use beets, because they are grown locally, and because many people have allergies to [...]

My first reporting job introduced me to the delightful Nemiroff Vodka. The first all-nighter we pulled during the lead-up to a very busy election that would culminate in the Orange Revolution introduced me to the art of drinking vodka Ukrainian style. The pure, smooth lines of Ukrainian vodka can make any night start out great, [...]

Growing up on the 45th parallel, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole has its bonuses. There is nothing really extreme about it. It does not have the spiciness and humidity of the lower latitudes nor the cool remoteness of the upper latitudes. You get a lot of rainy, gray, overcast days and television [...]

Micro distilleries are popping up fast these days. Already, you can make a swing through eastern Idaho and Washington and find three or four world-class distillation facilities. On a recent trip to Seattle, I happened upon a little vodka called Dry Fly, which I found out comes from Spokane, which is like in our back [...]