COLD RIVER VODKA NAMED ONE OF THE WORLD'S TOP SPIRITS
Prestigious nod is latest recognition for hand-crafted Maine spirit
Freeport, ME – Cold River Vodka, craft-distilled in small batches by Maine Distilleries (www.mainedistilleries.com), has been named as one of the top spirits in the world in 2011 by a leading spirits expert. Spirit Journal includes Cold River Vodka in its 2011 list of ”Top Five-Star Spirits in the World,” an exclusive list assembled by F. Paul Pacult, one of the world's leading spirits experts.
In awarding Cold River Vodka five stars, Pacult noted the vodka is “so good on its own that I hate to mix it in anything. But don't let that stop you from using it as an ideal base for a vodka Gimlet.” He writes that assembling the list of 140 five-star spirits “gives me the opportunity to celebrate which have been my best experiences of the last 12 to 18 months.”
A five-star rating is given to spirits Pacult considers “classic” and is the highest rating he awards.
Cold River Vodka is distilled in a handcrafted solid copper still, a slow process that results in smoothness and purity worthy of a five-star rating. The partners and employees at Maine Distilleries take great care and pride in producing a world-class spirit worthy of its Maine heritage.
Cold River Vodka is a true farm-to-table spirit: The potatoes are grown by partner Donnie Thibodeau on his Green Thumb Farm in Fryeburg, Maine, and the vodka is hand-distilled and made with water from the nearby Cold River aquifer before being bottled by hand.
This local, hand-made production process sets Cold River Vodka apart from other vodkas in a market where most other vodkas are mass-produced using ethyl alcohol bought from an industrial distiller, blended with water and additives to produce the final product.
“You could spend a lot of time looking for the distilleries of the major vodka producers and not have any luck—they simply don't exist,” notes managing partner and head distiller Chris Dowe. “That's in contrast to our operation, where real people come to work every day and make Cold River from scratch. We don't believe in shortcuts.”
“Being named to this list is satisfying,” he notes. “It's recognition of the product we're making, and we aren't going to change a thing.”
Cold River Vodka has earned an impressive variety of accolades, awards, and coverage from outlets ranging from Wine Enthusiast, CNN.com, DRAFT magazine and The Washington Post, to TIME magazine, The Boston Globe, The World Spirits Competition, and History Channel’s “Modern Marvels.”