Distilled Four Times from Midwestern Grain

Distillation is a simple process, in which quality is key. In basic distillation, alcohol is extracted, via evaporation, from a fermented liquid heated in a still.

Many brands feel that three times through the still is plenty. But we’ve found that four cycles yields a spirit of optimal purity, neutrality and character.

And while vodka can be distilled from just about any organic material that yields starch, our thorough experimentation hasn’t led us to anything better than the corn grown right here in the American Midwest.

Purified Minnesota Water

Vodka is about 60% water, so the kind of water used makes a huge difference.

Ours is well water drawn from the deep aquifers of Princeton, Minnesota—not far from the headwaters of the Mississippi. Then we purify it of unwanted minerals with a technique called “three-bed deionization.” The first bed removes all positively charged minerals, a second removes all negatively charged minerals and the third catches anything that was missed by the first two.

The end result: our water is about as perfect as nature and science can create.

Unblended for Optimal pH

Vodka is a “neutral spirit” and should have a pH in the 6.0–7.0 range. That is, not too acidic, not too basic. But many distillers add citric-based blenders to their vodka to take advantage of a tax loophole. It saves them money, but drops their pH down to the 4.0-4.5 range.

UV is never blended and maintains a pH of 6.0—in the same neighborhood as super-premium and luxury brands like Grey Goose, Belvedere, Stolichnaya, Skyy, Smirnoff and Ketel One.

Here’s a little chart that you might find of interest, taken right from the EPA website.

If you want to test a vodka’s acidity for yourself, just pour about an ounce of it into a few ounces of Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur. If it begins to curdle, even slightly, there’s acid in the vodka.

Activated Carbon Filtered

Once we’ve distilled our spirit and added optimal water, we filter the vodka through a proprietary system called activated carbon filtration—like a magnet that attracts any impurities remaining in the vodka.

When passed through this array of increasingly efficient filters (it takes about 20 hours per 12,000 gallon batch), our vodka emerges clean, crisp and “polished” for bottling.

All Natural Flavors and Sweeteners

Many distillers have resorted to less costly artificial and synthetic flavors, sweetened by sticky, gooey, yellowy, less expensive corn syrups.

UV chooses a different path. UV Vanilla, for example, uses four-fold vanilla extract imported from Madagascar—whereas most other distillers use vanillan, a synthetic, far less costly vanilla flavoring.

Same goes for UV Cherry, UV Grape, UV Apple, UV Orange and UV Citruv. All natural. Right from the fruits. And sweetened with a bit of natural, cordial-grade cane sugar from Florida to amplify and enrich the flavor, mouth feel and character.

Price vs. Quality

UV is one of the best tasting, most painstakingly filtered, perfectly neutral vodkas in the world. But even with such a focus on quality, we don’t find it expensive to make. In fact, generally speaking, the more you pay for vodka, the more you’re paying for a fancy bottle.

So when you’re choosing your vodka, insist on quality and price. And when you do, we hope you’ll try UV. We’re working hard to make sure you’ll never be disappointed.