EUREKA, Wis. — A Wisconsin family making vodka on an elk farm in the Oshkosh area hopes to become the next big success among small distilleries.
The Hendricks Family Distillery just outside Eureka has produced just 10 batches of Pur Class Vodka so far. But it's getting good reviews from those selling and drinking it at restaurants and bars, according to Oshkosh Northwestern Media (http://oshko.sh/12sB5CB ).
Emma Young said she was selling so much of the vodka at Dublin's Irish Pub that she decided to try it.
"It's a smooth vodka. I was really surprised," Young said. "I drink it now instead of Absolut, which is just one competitor."
The distillery is the brain child of brothers Karl and Zac Hendricks, who approached their parents with the idea in the spring of 2011. Peggy Hendricks said she and her husband, Jim, were caught a bit off-guard.
"We knew (Karl had) talked about opening a distillery with his buddies," Peggy Hendricks said. "But he called a family meeting, comes in with a notebook full of information and we started to think this might be serious."
The whole family is involved in the business. Karl, an ethanol plant employee, designed the still and water purification systems and worked out the proportion of enzymes and additives used to turn the Wisconsin-grown potatoes into alcohol.
"We set out to make the highest quality vodka within our means and abilities," Karl said. "We believe we've done a pretty good job. Our goal was that you only taste what you mixed with it."
