Pub Snippets..

MICRODISTILLED CRATER LAKE VODKA HAS HAD A SMOOTH ROAD TO SUCCESS

This Classic Spirit

Seattle Post-Intelligencer - September 24, 2001

By Lisa Rosetta THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEND, OR. -- Sitting at the bar in the Bendistillery sampling room on a Friday night, B.J. Fox stirs toothpick-speared, plump olives around in a crooked-neck martini glass. While nursing her Crater Lake Vodka martini, she professes her unequivocal love for the handcrafted spirit.

"The vodka is very smooth," says the woman from La Pine. "One sip and you'll be hooked."

That's what Bendistillery national sales manager Alan Dietrich says, too, about microdistilled Crater Lake Vodka, which in Oregon is surging ahead of some mass-produced, nationally known brands in sales. "Once people try the product, it's a done deal," he said. "It's an easy sell."

In 2000, the Bendistillery sold 600 cases of Crater Lake Vodka to liquor stores in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In 2001, that number doubled to 1,200, Dietrich said.The Crater Lake brand is catching on so quickly in the region that during July, fifths of vodka flew off the liquor shelves in greater numbers than did ultrapremium brands Finlandia, Vox, Tanqueray Sterling, Fris, Pearl and Belvedere, reported the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association in Washington, D.C.

It's yet another sign, Dietrich said, that the microbrew revolution that began a decade ago is now growing to encompass not only beers, but vodkas and gins as well.

Despite their expensive, national advertising campaigns, mass-produced corporate brands of liquor are beginning to lose consumer appeal. Jim Bendis, founder and chief executive officer of the 10-employee Bendistillery company, began making Crater Lake Vodka and other spirits in Bend in 1996. Because the start-up costs are so great, distilling is a risky venture, he said. But he has found success with his local label by keeping the operation small and the spirits rich with taste. While his distillery is capable of producing 16 times as much as it produces now, Bendis said the company will grow at a careful pace.

"I refuse to let the product be compromised," he said. And rather than pour money into expensive advertising campaigns for his products, Bendis says his company relies on its customers to tout the virtues of the products by word of mouth. "They're little advocates for us," he said.

Handcrafted spirits, while still not common (there are only six such distilleries in the country, three of them in Oregon), are being looked at more frequently as an alternative. Howie Pruitt, another Bendistillery sampling room customer, said he first tried Crater Lake Vodka when a bottle of it was given to him as a ousewarming gift in January. Now he requests the vodka everywhere he goes. If they say they don't have the vodka, Pruitt says, "I say, great, give me a beer."

"We're all about quality and not quantity," Dietrich said, noting that the distillery on First Street produces 250-gallon batches at a time–minuscule compared to the larger corporate brands. The small batches of Crater Lake Vodka are distilled very slowly to ensure a smooth, spring-water taste, Dietrich said. By filtering it through charcoal five times and crushed lava-rock five times, the vodka becomes pure and smooth.

The end result has earned the Bendistillery not only a healthy sales record, but also accolades for its vodka and Cascade Mountain Gin as well. Last year, the spirits won the silver and bronze medals respectively at the International Spirits Competition.