Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/658171
www.beveragedynamics.com March/April 2016 • Beverage Dynamics 17 Brand SPOTLIG HT Q&A Brand SPOTLIG HT Q&A PASSIONATE ABOUT POTATOES BY JEREMY NEDELKA I recently spoke with Chopin Vodka founder Tad Dorda to dis- cuss the changing vodka market and the brand's newest product introductions. Chopin is a small-batch producer that makes single-ingredi- ent vodkas – potato, wheat and rye. Each bottle contains only three ingredients: potatoes, wheat or rye; yeast and well water. Chopin sources the ingredients locally and distills its vodka four times in a copper still. It's distilled in Podlasie, Poland, at a cen- tury-old distillery. In addition to the three vodkas, Chopin offers limited distri- bution of Chopin Single, a single-ingredient, single-distilled craft vodka line. Each Single release represents a different harvest and vintage – for example, 2011 Young Potato, which retains a strong fl avor thanks to the single distillation. Each year's product is affected differently by the weather, soil conditions and harvest time, creating a set of vodkas comparable side-by-side like vin- tages of wine. He's also a leading advocate for legal criteria that would mandate what could be called a vodka based on ingredients and origin, like regulations created for tequila, Champagne, Bourbon or Cognac. He believes that would lead to the cre- ation of higher-quality vodkas and protect the industry from sub-standard producers. BD: Where does your love of potatoes come from? TD: I'm passionate about Poland and vodka. My family plants and harvests many of our potatoes by hand, just as my ances- tors have done for centuries. There's a culture of growing potatoes that's passed down from generation to genera- tion. I inherited that from my parents, and now Alexandra is learning it from me. My entire family likes to be there for the harvest each year – we want to be part of the process. BD: What is your opinion of the current vodka market? TD: I want to elevate the discus- sion about vodka – it doesn't have to be a tasteless spirit just used for mixing. Mixability is important, but a good vodka shouldn't be undrinkable straight. Consumer education in vodka is just starting – there's a long way to go before consumers stop treating vodka like a tasteless com- modity and begin to understand subtleties in taste and texture. We need to begin talking intelligently about this spirit. BD: Did you ever consider adding a fl avored vodka when that part of the category was growing exponentially? TD: The fl avored vodka craze did a lot of damage to the cate- gory because it distracted from the quality of what's in the bottle. Chopin offers fl avored spirits in European markets – mostly fruit fl avors with a long history in those countries – but we've never sold a fl avored vodka in the U.S. and we never will. BD CHOPIN'S VODKA LINEUP All of the company's vodkas are 80-proof, single-ingredient spirits. The three small-batch vodkas (Potato, Wheat and Rye) have a suggested retail price of $29.99 for a 750-ml. bottle. The three vintage vodkas (Single Young Potato, Single Wheat and Single Rye) have a suggested retail price of $49.99 for a 375-ml. bottle.