Photo courtesy of Lightandlocal.com
By Erin Trauth
Last week, we talked about the best vegan beer options. Now, it’s time to move on to the hard stuff–that’s right: it’s time to talk about liquor. Namely, that clear yet oh-so-powerful substance many of us know to be vodka. If I partake in liquor-based drinks, vodka has always been a favorite – relatively odorless and seemingly less pungent than some of the darker stuff, vodka goes very well mixed with most juices , lemonades, or even teas.
Most vodkas are distilled from many different starch or sugar-based plant matters, and a majority of the vodkas available to mass markets are produced from grains such as corn, rye or wheat. Some are even made from grapes, rice, potatoes, sugar beets, and crystal sugars. Fortunately, this means that most vodkas are inherently vegan – but not all of them are. As I did for vegan beers, I’m going to first direct you to Barnivore for a list of vegan-friendly vodkas. Just keep this list on hand, and you should have no problem ordering vegan vodka options at all of your summer social gatherings.
While this seems easy enough, we can all take our drinking habits a step further and go eco-friendly with our vodka choices – then, we can all save the earth, one cocktail at a time (someone has to do it, right?). Instead of harsh distillation processes that can waste trees, gallons of water, pounds of solid waste, greenhouse gasses, and millions of BTUs of energy, choose vodkas that come from companies practicing organic and eco-friendly production processes to help keep the earth (and your liver) a little bit healthier when you imbibe. Here are some of my favorite eco-friendly and/or organic vodkas:
- 360 Vodkas
- Tru Organic Vodka
- Charbay Vodka – Including organic Meyer Lemon, Pomegranate and Blood Orange
- Orange V Vodka
- Prairie Organic Vodka
- Reyka Vodka
- Square One Organic Vodka
What are some of your favorite vegan and eco-friendly vodkas, or other liquors, for that matter? Any favorite vodka mixes we need to try this summer? We’d love to hear about them in the comments!
