Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/326040
june 2014 / the tasting panel / 57 "I'd go back in the summer when things were busy," he says, "and then in winter, when it was quiet, I'd go back to Vegas." Still, when people asked him what he did, he always said, "I'm a farmer." In many ways, it was a dream life, combining the traditions of his past with the future he desired. But success was fleeting. The economy tanked, the Vegas scene nose- dived and Souza discovered that he really didn't love the business after all. Souza eventually wondered why he couldn't just make good booze to sell to these casinos. So, back to the farm he went. When you've got a lot of sweet potatoes and you like fine liquid, it makes sense to see if you can make something delicious with all those potatoes. He bought a book about distilling, and he ordered a still from Canada. Then he spent a year and a half in his garage, working on the right recipe. He experimented with ten different kinds of sweet potatoes, looking for great taste at manageable production numbers—sweet potatoes are far more labor-intensive to produce than regular potatoes, and because they are lower in starch and sugars, it takes many more of them to make vodka. At first, it required 20 pounds of sweet potatoes to make one bottle of Corbin Estate Vodka—now they've got it down to ten or 12. Taste was never a problem because the sweet potatoes produce a wonderful profile. The challenge was finding the blend that could be enjoyed neat but was still versatile enough to be used in cocktails. While it has a somewhat sweet finish, the thing you notice most in a cocktail is its smoothness. "We live it and breathe it every day," says Erik Teague, one of Souza's three employees at the farm, who does just about everything from minding the still to promoting the brand in San Francisco and other Northern California locations. "There's no one who has quite the same story or unique product as Corbin." "It's almost like it's made up," Souza says of his story. "But if you don't believe us, you can come to the farm and see what we do every day. My commute is about 50 feet." That's a lot shorter than shuttling back and forth from Sin City. At Zero Zero in San Francisco, farm-to- glass cocktails are de rigueur. With an artisanal product like Corbin Estate to play with, bartender Doug Mackay was inspired to create the Fifth Element, a cocktail that marries the smoothness of the vodka with classic herbal and bitter flavors, brightened up with a kiss of lemon. "People are always intrigued when I explain that it is a sweet potato vodka," comments Mackay. The Fifth Element ◗ 1½ oz. Corbin Estate Vodka ◗ ½ oz. Cocchi Americano ◗ ¾ oz. St-Germain ◗ Lemon juice ◗ 2 dashes bitters Corbin Estates Vodka is distilled from sweet potatoes in Northern California. TP0614_034-71.indd 57 5/23/14 10:06 PM