Blue Flame Vodka

Blue Flame Vodka. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The Pacific Northwest is home to over 700 wineries each one making their own wonderful brand of wines but Brian Morton, owner of Blue Flame Spirits in Prosser wanted to be a bit different. MORTON: I didn't want to be in competition with anybody that I knew that owned breweries. There's a lot of breweries around so I kind of wanted to do something different that nobody's doing. So about 2 ½ years ago I started my quest and decided I'm going to do a distillery. It'll fit perfectly in the theme of the Yakima Valley with all the wineries. Morton uses almost 100% local grain and produce for his products including his first offering of a merlot based vodka. MORTON: You have to be able to make a phenomenal vodka to stand out. Period. If not, you're just another dude on the block and my business plan is to be the elite craft distillery in Washington. I made vodka right up front because real simply you don't age vodka. Eventually he hopes that Blue Flame will be known for its whiskey and is currently looking for a rye producer. But the merlot vodka is quite unique. MORTON: If you do it right it makes your vodka stand out from every other vodka on the shelf. I do not know of any that taste like ours. It really is a unique flavor profile. It is by no means a grape flavored vodka. There's lots of vodka's on the market that are flavored products and I did not want to be lumped into that category at all. More tomorrow on Blue Flame Spirits. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.