Shakers

Shakers at a Glance

Shakers has 5 distinct products with 32 total TTB label approvals, including Vodka - Other Flavored, Vodka 80-89 Proof. Labels approved between 2022-10-17 and 2022-10-21. Label origins on file: Minnesota.

At a Glance data sourced from public TTB records.

Shakers Vodka: A Minnesota Wheat Vodka Made Inside an Ethanol Plant

Shakers made its national debut early in 2003 from the small west-central Minnesota town of Benson, Minnesota Public Radio reported that September. Infinite Spirits was formed in 2001 and approached the Benson plant for beverage-grade alcohol, MinnPost reported.

The Pete's Wicked Ale veterans behind Shakers

Pat Couteaux, a native of Saint Paul, had helped turn Pete's Wicked Ale into a micro-brew in the 1990s, and he settled on the idea of an American vodka made from wheat, Minnesota Public Radio said. Couteaux and a partner went to Poland to find out what vodka culture was about, and two workers later made a second trip to sample potato vodka and study equipment from Gdansk southward, the Washington Post reported in 2007.

How Shakers vodka is made in Benson

The Chippewa Valley Ethanol plant makes 43 million gallons of fuel ethanol a year and, in a separate process, food grade alcohol, because its miles of pipes and fermentation tanks are stainless steel, according to Minnesota Public Radio. The wheat comes from farms around Benson, the station said. Rye joins the wheat in Shakers, the Washington Post wrote.

The plant distills the spirit down to a specified proof and Shakers then distills it further to its proprietary level, general manager Mike Jerke told MinnPost in 2012. The Benson spirit is distilled six times, one more than Grey Goose, the Washington Post wrote.

Shakers Rye, Shakers Rose, and the years after 2008

Shakers is packaged in an art deco bottle, the Washington Post wrote in 2007, reporting a company executive's figure of 15,000 cases sold at $33 a bottle over the preceding 12 months. By then Infinite Spirits had begun counting revenues by the million, the paper added. The company later introduced offshoots including Shakers Rye, Shakers Rose, a rose-flavored offering, and the limited edition seasonal Shakers Winter, Shanken News Daily reported in 2012.

The vodkas sold in 19 states, but distribution dropped off and sales were spotty after the economy fell in 2008, MinnPost wrote, citing a 2011 TC Daily Planet article. The vodka was still available and had a loyal following in Minnesota and Wisconsin, its distributor, Heun Enterprises of Hillsboro, Wisconsin, told MinnPost in 2012. Every approval is listed in the TTB label records for Shakers on this page.

Sources

• Minnesota Public Radio (news.minnesota.publicradio.org). “Minnesota wheat makes a premium vodka.” 19 September 2003. http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/09/19_postt_shakersvodka/
• The Washington Post, via The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Vodka from the heartland.” 4 January 2007. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20070104_Vodka_from_the_heartland.html
• MinnPost. “Minnesota grains help fuel U.S. vodka movement.” 29 February 2012. https://www.minnpost.com/greater-minnesota/2012/02/minnesota-grains-help-fuel-us-vodka-movement/
• Shanken News Daily. Report on the Shakers vodka brand and its product line. 25 October 2012. https://www.shankennewsdaily.com/2012/10/25/4380/gallo-buys-shakers-vodka-trademark/
• TTB Public COLA Registry via BUY.VODKA data snapshot (src/data/labels.json, local build 16 October 2026). “Shakers” label approvals. Local read-only query, 16 October 2026.

Produced At

Related Brands

• Veil also from Minnesota
• Seagram's also from Minnesota
• Uv also from Minnesota
• Crop Harvest Earth also from Minnesota
• Obbink Distilling also from Minnesota
• Muscle also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Stoli also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Heritage Distilling CO also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Holla also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof
• Burnett's also makes Vodka 80-89 Proof

Related Questions

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

Browse All Labels

• a
• b
• c
• d
• e
• f
• g
• h
• i
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• o
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• u
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z
• 0-9