Finlandia Vodka

The most famous export from Finland is a marriage of purest Spirit and glacial water.

The Rajamäki bottling plant that makes Finlandia Vodka were founded by Dr. Wilhelm Justin in 1888. He chose the location because of a natural spring fed from melting glaciers nearby. Finland had its own Prohibition movement, but the distillery kept operating to supply antiseptic alcohols and fuels. When Prohibition ended the facilities were bought, sold, traded, and such. In 2000, the Brown-Forman company started acquiring ownership. Four years later they owned the whole thing.

Finlandia Vodka is made from local six-row barley. The mash is fermented and then distilled in a set of seven custom column stills at the Koskenkorva Distillery — each one is 82-feet tall (25 meters). There are more than two hundred steps in the distillation process to remove any trace of impurity. And so the Spirit emerges very pure at 96.5% ABV. The Spirit is transported to the Rajamäki plant when the spring water bubbles up and is used to cut the Vodka to proof. Quality and purity are a big part of their ethos. At one time Finlandia had an advertising campaign who’s central message was, "There are Vodkas for orange juice lovers and tomato juice lovers. Now a Vodka for Vodka lovers."