gastro & gusto
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TEAM OLOGY From left: Co-founder Paul Woodward; David Arendt, special operations; Nick Walker, head brewer; Aleks Alexander, lead distiller; Jason Grant, head distiller.
T A SPIRITED LIBATIONS
BUSINESS Ology is expanding its product line by BOB FERRANTE
62
May–June 2021
TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM
he potato is a versatile crop, producing kid-friendly items like french fries, tater tots, hash browns and mashed potatoes. It is also sure to put a smile on adults’ faces, a warm one, when distilled to make vodka. Owners and distillers at Ology took on what was certainly a fun experiment. They spent four months messing around with different vodka recipes to produce their Potato Vodka. “We had a corn vodka, a potato vodka, we had a wheat and a rye,” said Ology’s lead distiller, Jason Grant. “And among all of those, we listed what we liked, what we didn’t like. The corn
seemed a little too sweet. The rye and the wheat were a little too heavy on the alcohol taste.” The “appeal” of the potato — sorry, one dad joke and we’ll stop there — with vodka? “It was cleaner than everything else,” Grant said. “The potato came off really nice and smooth. And it had a clean finish. It didn’t linger around the palate.” Grant and his colleagues at Ology, a three-year-old business in Tallahassee that began with a focus on craft beers and coffee, were immediately on to something with their first distilled product. photography by ALEX WORKMAN
