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Distillation

How iceberg harvesters make Canada’s premium vodka TORONTO  The process of making a bottle of Iceberg Vodka started 12,000 years ago in the last Ice Age when pristine snow formed the Arctic glaciers, creating icebergs. “We have a very unique ingredient that separates our premium vodka from others on the market,” said Frank Heaps. “That ingredient is of course the pure iceberg water that we use in our spirit.” The water used that Heaps refers to comes from icebergs that are harvested off the coast of Newfoundland in a place called Iceberg Alley. Icebergs that break off of glaciers far up north get caught in currents and float south to melt in warmer waters. Iceberg harvesters find these melting icebergs and gather them in customized ships. The iceberg harvest starts by hunting for the lone icebergs floating through the Alley. Once they are found, these “growlers” or smaller chunks of a larger iceberg are approached by the crew on the ship to be examined. “The actual iceberg harvest isn’t as simple as people might think,” said Heaps. “These growlers can range anywhere from three to five tonnes and are bigger than your car so it’s not a matter of just picking it up and going back home.” Once examined, the harvesters use a less conventional means to cut the bigger icebergs down to a more manageable size; a rifle. With a well placed shot, most icebergs will carve off into smaller ones which can then be netted and brought onboard with a crane. The fresh icebergs are then taken back to shore to be crushed, melted and eventually added into the distillation process. The creation process for the alcohol begins on shore with fermentation of neutral grain spirit produced from the highest grade of Canada’s peaches and cream sweet corn. The actual distillation process is a closely guarded secret, but it involves cycling the fermented mixture through a series of filters to transform the fermented product into a crude spirit. This crude spirit contains roughly 85-90 percent alcohol content so to bring the vodka to the targeted 40 percent alcohol percentage, the pure iceberg water is added to the crude spirit. To be considered true vodka, the alcohol percentage must be 40 percent. The advantage that Iceberg Vodka has over other vodkas is in the purity of the iceberg water. The purity of the water used in the production of any vodka is incredibly important which is why Iceberg Vodka uses iceberg water that contains .04 ppm of impurities compared to tap water which contains 200-300 ppm.