Worth Finding

Silverton Vodka is an ultra-premium potato vodka from Abiqua Spirit Distillery. We chose a potato base because it drinks differently than a grain vodka. It carries more body, more mouthfeel, and a softer edge. That difference matters most in two places: neat over a single large rock, and inside a classic cocktail that does not forgive a thin spirit. A Martini is an honest test. A Vodka Sour is another.

The American Distilling Institute awarded Silverton Vodka a Gold Medal in 2019. It has also earned Silver at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Medals are not the point, but they are a fair second opinion. Ours matched the first opinion, which was the one we had at our own counter when we first knew we had something worth bottling.

Silverton Vodka is built on a potato base. Every bottle is brought together, bottled, labeled, and packed by hand at our room in Silverton, Oregon. No automated bottling line runs this stuff. Every label has been touched. Every cap has been screwed on. Every bottle has been held a few minutes before it left the building.

The world has plenty of vodkas. Most of them are grain, most of them are massive, and most of them are trying to be invisible. Silverton Vodka is not trying to be invisible. The whole point of a potato vodka done this way is the creamy, long finish that shows up after you swallow. If we had wanted invisible we would have done something else.

When the American Distilling Institute handed us the Gold Medal in 2019, we took it as a signal that the approach was working. The Silver at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition was the second signal. The third and most important signal is whether the person who opens the bottle pours a second drink. That is the one we actually track.