Four partners win a grant to turn Maine potatoes into a spirited new industry.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

FRYEBURG – Maine’s potato-growing legacy has inspired plans to distill a handcrafted vodka using the state’s spuds and pristine water.

The idea is the brainchild of Fryeburg potato farmer Don Thibodeau, 50, whose roots in the northern Maine potato industry run back five generations.

Thibodeau has partnered with brother Lee Thibodeau, a Portland surgeon; Robert Harkins, a Paris businessman; and Chris Dowe, a master brewer from New Gloucester.

Together, they have created Maine Distilleries LLC. They are in the research and development stage of their venture.

They recently received a $8,100 seed grant from the Maine Technology Institute of Gardiner that they are matching with $19,593 of their own money.

A location for their distillery has yet to be decided, or even a formula. But the partners are convinced their potato vodka will find a market niche among the 99 percent of vodkas in the world that are distilled from grain.

“How this has evolved is from stories told when I was a child about the alcohol produced in Aroostook County,” said Thibodeau, the owner of Green Thumb Farms, who has grown potatoes in the Saco River Valley in Fryeburg since 1977.

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

Only a few companies in America make potato vodka, using Idaho potatoes. Several countries, including Poland, Austria and Russia, are known for potato vodka. As a rule, it’s much cheaper to make vodka from grain than from potatoes.

Even though Idaho and other Midwestern states have surpassed Maine in potato production, potatoes are still the biggest agricultural product in Maine. Making vodka from potatoes that are not market grade and would otherwise go to waste is a way to strengthen the state’s natural-resource-based economy, Thibodeau said.

“My interest is in the state of Maine. I love it here,” Thibodeau said. “And now that all the mills and shoe companies and textile manufacturers are gone, the only thing the state’s got left is its natural resources.”

MTI seed grant specialist Elizabeth Crabtree said the partners’ proposal was one of 17 selected for grant funding this year.

“Here in Maine our whole mission is to stimulate the economy,” Crabtree said. Potato vodka, she said, “is definitely an ag-based product” that requires the development of new technologies.

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

There’s not a lot written about making potato vodka, said Harkins, the new firm’s president.

“We have a lot of work to do. It’s a very competitive market,” he said. The four partners recently returned from a week-long distillation science school in Kentucky.

“We intend to create a premium, hand-crafted product, in small batches, so we can control the flavor,” said Harkins. The company wants to go to market with the vodka in 12 to 18 months.

“We’d love to see it go national.”

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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