Potato farmer, partners eye new brand of vodka

LEWISTON – Maine is known for its potatoes and clean water. So why not combine the two for a new brand of vodka?

That’s what Fryeburg potato farmer Don Thibodeau, whose roots in the northern Maine potato industry run back five generations, was wondering when he concocted the idea.

Now, Maine Distilleries LLC is in the research and development stage. No location for its distillery has been picked, and the product doesn’t have a formula.

The Maine Technology Institute of Gardiner is providing an $8,100 grant to help Thibodeau and three partners bring their venture to fruition.

The others include Thibodeau’s brother Lee Thibodeau, a Portland surgeon; Robert Harkins, a Paris businessman; and Chris Dowe, a master brewer from New Gloucester.

The partners are matching the grant with nearly $20,000 of their own money.

Ninety-nine percent of the world’s vodkas are distilled from grain, the exceptions using Idaho potatoes. The Maine Distilleries’ partners are convinced their potato vodka will find a market niche.

Harkins, the new firm’s president, said little is written about making potato vodka.

“We have a lot of work to do. It’s a very competitive market,” Harkins said after the four partners returned from a weeklong distillation science school in Kentucky.

Master brewer Dowe sets up microbreweries around the country and will act as plant manager when the distillation begins, Harkins said.

“How this has evolved is from stories told when I was a child about the alcohol produced in Aroostook County,” said Thibodeau, owner of Green Thumb Farms, which grows potatoes in the Saco River Valley in Fryeburg.

Starch in the potatoes made the vodka feel smooth and was soft on the palate, he said. Vodka is generally considered a “neutral” spirit, without a distinctive taste or smell.

Several countries, including Poland, Austria and Russia, are known for potato vodka. But it’s generally much cheaper to make vodka from grain than from potatoes.

While Idaho and some Midwestern states have surpassed Maine in potato production, potatoes are still the biggest agricultural product in Maine. Maine’s natural-resource-based economy would be bolstered by making vodka from potatoes that are not market grade and otherwise would go to waste, Thibodeau said.

“My interest is in the state of Maine. I love it here,” Thibodeau said.