There have been some pretty strange infused spirits released over the past few years: whiskeys flavored with beaver sac and invasive green crabs, and apple brandy flavored with trout roe and corpse flower. All of those came from New Hampshire’s Tamworth Distilling (and all are better than Jim Beam Apple or Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire, for what it’s worth). But another distillery has decided to work weird as well. Rhode Island’s Industrious Spirit Company has a new vodka that was distilled from pizza ingredients to make it taste like a slice of cheese pie.
The Industrious Spirit Company is a woman-owned distillery that was founded in 2017. It’s located on the site of an old industrial mill in Providence, and the team there focuses on producing sustainable spirits. That means using regenerative grains as much as possible (something that brands like Brother’s Bond have been exploring as well), using sustainable botanicals for infusions, and sending spent grains to local farmers to feed their livestock (a common practice in the spirits industry). The core lineup consists of a pair of bourbons, one made from 100 percent blue corn, and a vodka distilled with fresh oysters (it’s Rhode Island, after all). Then there are the special releases, including an aquavit flavored like an everything bagel and a vodka filtered through quartz.
The new Pizza Vodka joins the core lineup, and it might be the first of its kind, according to the distillery. It’s made from a wheat base spirit that is macerated (like a gin) with herbs, spices, and tomatoes. That spirit was then distilled and infused with fresh mozzarella cheese to further the flavor concept. And that’s not the only savory spirit–there’s also L’il Rhody Pizza Strip vodka in the distillery’s special release lineup that preceded this new expression. If you’re not from Rhode Island (and the odds are that you’re not, given the size of the state), pizza strips are rectangular pieces of focaccia covered in sauce that sometimes have some Romano cheese on them. These are apparently a thing in Little Rhody (another term that you might not be familiar with), and this version of the vodka was infused with them.
We did not get to try the new Pizza Vodka, but the official tasting notes sound . . . like pizza, which one would hope is the case, with oregano, marjoram, garlic, tomato, fresh bread, and savory Italian herbs on the palate. Suggested serves are to use the vodka in a Martini garnished with pepperoni or pepperoncini, or making a Bloody Mary with it. You can purchase L’il Rhody Pizza Strip vodka and Pizza Vodka now for $20 at the distillery’s website.
