Best Craft Vodka Distillery (2017)

Eli's Strongarm Vodka, made at Tom's Town Distilling Co. in Kansas City, is named after Eli Matheus, a rough-and-tough Prohibition-era riverboat captain. In contrast, his namesake vodka is smooth and pure, thanks to a 16-distillation process.
Photo courtesy of Tom's Town Distilling Co.

Inspired by the 57 men who died while laying the tracks of infamous Duffy's Cut, Restless Spirits' Duffy's Run Vodka is made using a Vendome still – one of the few of its kind in the U.S. – which helps maintain the flavor of the 100-percent Missouri corn mash. 
Photo courtesy of Restless Spirits Distilling Company

Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka, the flagship spirit at Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, is an award-winning vodka with notes of maple, honey and cocoa bean. Unlike other vodkas, which use both the "heads and tails" of the distillation process, Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka uses only the “hearts”, lending it a very clean and unique taste.
Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries

Black Dog Distillery specializes in small-batch vodka, distilled 200 gallons at a time to create unique flavor profiles not often found in mass produced spirits. A portion of the proceeds go toward local animal shelters.
Photo courtesy of Black Dog Distillery

Goat Artisan Vodka, crafted by Peach Street Distillers in Colorado, is made from a combination of locally grown corn, winter wheat and malted barley. It gets distilled three times and charcoal filtered to lend smoothness without sacrificing its flavor profile.
Photo courtesy of Colorado Distillers Festival / Flickr

Spokane's Dry Fly Distilling prides itself on its farm-to-bottle spirits, including a vodka made from Eastern Washington soft white winter wheat sourced from century-old family farms. The triple-distilled spirit is only lightly filtered to preserve its natural wheat flavor
Photo courtesy of Dry Fly Distilling

Pinckney Bend Distillery in Missouri starts their Three-Grain American Vodka with a base of 80-percent organic wheat, 15-percent barley and 5-percent rye that is distilled multiple times before getting filtered through activated charcoal for a velvety smooth and subtle vodka. Each grain is distilled separately in small batches to maintain its unique flavor profile.
Photo courtesy of Tony Carosella / Pinckney Bend Distillery

The award-winning vodka from Du Nord Craft Spirits in Minneapolis is named after the Minnesota state motto, "L'etoile Du Nord." The spirit is milled, mashed and fermented in-house, and its clean flavor profile makes it an excellent option for a martini or summer cocktail.
Photo courtesy of Du Nord Craft Spirits

Utah-grown rye and wheat grains form the foundation for Dented Brick Distillery's Roofraiser Vodka. This European-style vodka has a spicy kick from the rye not often found in American vodkas more typically made from corn. It gets its name from an incident when the Salt Lake City distillery had to alter the height of their roof to accommodate the stills.
Photo courtesy of Dented Brick Distillery / Facebook

Rider Vodka, a small-batch spirit from Union Horse Distilling Co., begins with a wheat mash distilled in a hand-crafted copper still. The resulting spirit is slow-filtered six times for an exceptionally smooth mouth feel.
Photo courtesy of Union Horse Distilling Co.