The Best Sweet American Vodkas

Based in California’s Sonoma County, Hanson is an organic vodka based on grape distillate. A fifty-plate still creates a very pure spirit that is then filtered seven times. The habanero infusion is made from organic produce. It is non-GMO and gluten free.

Based in California’s Sonoma County, Hanson makes its vodka using organic grapes from the area. This Sonoma wine is then distilled on a combination pot still and fifty-plate column still to create the spirit. The vodka is not only organic, but it is also non-GMO and gluten free.

This forward-thinking vodka from Ohio pours a fantastic amber-crimson color because of its infusion of Montmorency cherries, yellow peaches, apricots, almonds, hibiscus and a touch of local honey. The base vodka is made of local wheat and distilled no less than 34 times.

Made eschewing leavened grained (prohibited during Passover), Distillery No. 209 has created the world first certified Kosher for Passover vodka. The base is cane sugar that is distilled five times under the eye of the Orthodox Union on San Francisco’s Pier 50 facility.

This vodka from St. George Spirits in Alameda, California is made from a base of pears and grain. Bartlett pears, the same the distillery uses in their pear brandy, are distilled to 95.1% ABV. They then blend this with a non-GMO grain base spirit. Bottled at 40% ABV after filtering for impurities.

OYO Vodka is the flagship of Columbus, Ohio’s Middle West Spirits distillery, an operation committed to showcasing the region’s grain through the lens of craft distillation. The grain used for the vodka is local soft red wheat. Sold as a “whiskey lover’s vodka,” the grain character is embraced and not meant to be hidden. As a result, it is unfiltered after distillation. Bottled at 80 proof. A fun trivia fact: Oyo is the original word for Ohio.

Hailing from creole country in Louisiana, the Donner-Peltier opened with the mission to create the world’s most premium vodka. Oryza Vodka is distilled 17 times and the use of purified water and hi-tech filtration aim to make a hyper smooth and luxurious product. A key separator from the pack is the southern accent of using local, long-grain rice. Update: Donner-Peltier Distillers, the Thibodaux-based distillery, announced that it will cease operations after Monday, August 27, 2018

Distilled in a small town in California’s Humboldt County, this vodka is distilled from sugarcane and is USDA certified organic. It is also non-GMO and gluten free. The locale boasts access to a pure water source among an old growth redwood forest which is used to bring the proof down to 80 before bottling.

Spring 44 seeks to harness the purity of their water source in their Colorado-born spirits. The spring is located in Buckhorn Canyon at 2,000 feet elevation and surrounded by 160,000 acres of National forest. For this flavored vodka, the grain vodka base is infused with Colorado honey lending an attractive golden tone to the spirit.

Made at Middle West Spirits in Columbus, Ohio, this vodka uses its flagship OYO American Character Vodka as its base. That vodka is made from local, soft red wheat. For this bottling, local wildflower honey and single-source, fair-trade, organic vanilla beans are used for flavoring. Bottled at 80 proof unfiltered. Kosher.