44 North

44 North at a Glance

44 North has 7 distinct products with 10 total TTB label approvals, including Vodka - Cherry Flavored, Vodka - Other Flavored, Vodka 80-89 Proof. Labels approved between 2020-08-12 and 2024-01-03. Label origins on file: Idaho, Oregon.

At a Glance data sourced from public TTB records.

44 North: Two Beverage Marketers' Bet on an Idaho Potato Vodka

44 North began when Ken Wyatt and his partner Ron Zier saw that Grey Goose, Stolichnaya, and Ketel One were all foreign-made, with nothing American-made competing against them, Idaho Business Review reported in 2016. Idaho was the natural place to make the vodka, Wyatt told the publication, because water, corn, wheat, potatoes, huckleberries, cherries, fruit, and grapes are all in abundance there.

Who started 44 North

Wyatt's first industry job was at Pepsi, after which he was marketing director for four years at Remy Martin USA, a couple of years at Moet Hennessy, and almost five years at Anheuser-Busch InBev, Idaho Business Review reported. Zier had also worked for years at large beverage companies, by Wyatt's account. Cowboys & Indians described the company in 2017 as Boise-based and named for the latitude on which it sits.

Potatoes, wheat, and regional fruit

The vodka is distilled from Idaho's Burbank and Russet potatoes using a five-column still and Rocky Mountain spring water, then blended with Snake River Aquifer water, Idaho Falls Magazine wrote in 2022, calling it “Idaho's top selling vodka.” The potato vodka wears the seal of the Idaho Potato Commission, Wyatt told Cowboys & Indians. Eighty proof vodka is 60 percent water, so water quality is crucial, he added, and local ingredients mean the product comes from someplace real rather than on a tanker truck from a large Midwest distillery.

Master distiller Bill Scott works regional fruit and grains into flavors such as Rainier Cherry, Magic Valley Wheat, and Mountain Huckleberry, the last made from Idaho's native black huckleberry, the magazine reported. The Magic Valley Wheat Vodka uses Brundage Winter Wheat from Idaho's Magic Valley, a brand page on the Hood River Distillers website says. While its roots are in the Northwest, the brand says it can be found on shelves across the U.S. in limited quantities.

Where 44 North is made: two accounts

Sun Valley Magazine describes Distilled Resources, Inc., or DRinc, in Rigby, Idaho as a farm-to-bottle distillery bottling Blue Ice, Teton Glacier, and 44 North. Companies bring their recipes to DRinc, which makes the end product, and the magazine calls 44 North “one of the top selling brands out of DRinc.” DRinc began as a fuel alcohol plant in 1988 and became a beverage producer in 1992, Sun Valley Magazine said.

The TTB snapshot, however, shows approvals filed by Idaho Mercantile Distillers, WZMS LLC of Shelley, Idaho listing Idaho as the label origin on file. A filing made in November 2020 by Hood River Distillers, Inc. of Hood River, Oregon lists Oregon as the label origin on file. See the TTB label records for 44 North on this page.

Sources

• Idaho Falls Magazine. “Straight From the Source.” May 2022. https://www.idahofallsmagazine.com/2022/05/straight-from-the-source
• Sun Valley Magazine. “A Toast to Potato Vodka.” Undated. https://sunvalleymag.com/articles/toast-potato-vodka/
• Cowboys & Indians. “44 North Vodka Is a Drink From the Source.” 19 July 2017. https://www.cowboysindians.com/2017/07/44-north-vodka-is-a-drink-from-the-source/
• 44 North Vodka (44northvodka.com), home page. “Idaho Made Vodka | 44° North® Vodka.” Undated. https://www.44northvodka.com/
• Hood River Distillers (hrdspirits.com), brand page. “44 North Vodka.” Undated. https://www.hrdspirits.com/44-north-vodka
• Idaho Business Review. “Ken Wyatt: Libation leader.” 20 May 2016. https://idahobusinessreview.com/2016/05/20/ken-wyatt-libation-leader/
• TTB Public COLA Registry via BUY.VODKA data snapshot (src/data/labels.json, local build 20 October 2026). “44 North” label approvals. Local read-only query, 20 October 2026.

Produced at Multiple Facilities

• Idaho Mercantile Distillers, Wzms LLC
• Hood River Distillers, INC.

Related Brands

• Heritage Distilling CO also from Oregon
• Wild Roots also from Oregon
• Trust Me also from Idaho
• Kachka also from Oregon
• American Harvest also from Idaho
• Muscle also makes Vodka - Other Flavored
• Veil also makes Vodka - Other Flavored
• Stoli also makes Vodka - Other Flavored
• Holla also makes Vodka - Other Flavored
• Burnett's also makes Vodka - Other Flavored

Related Questions

• Where is 44 North vodka made?
• Who makes 44 North vodka and who owns the brand?
• What proof is 44 North vodka?

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