Cozying Up To Icebergs

Icebergs aren’t the friendliest things so we were curious how they ended up in vodka. Luckily, the Wall Street Journal was curious too running an in-depth story on harvesting wayward icebergs in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada’s Newfoundland coast.

Every summer, Ed Kean, an intrepid fifth-generation sea captain, searches the coastline for chunks of ice from Greenland glaciers drifting southwest. And just how does he actually grab the iceberg? According to reporter Will Connors, he uses massive nets, a giant hydraulic arm mounted on his boat and sometimes he resorts to a rifle and chainsaw.

The melted chunks of ancient glaciers provide incredibly pure water, which Mr. Kean sells to a Canadian distiller for vodka, a winery, a brewery and a bottled water company. The vodka is appropriately called “Iceberg”. A company catch phrase is “Break the Ice”.

On the Pacific Ocean side of the country, the Alaska Distillery boasts they harvest glacial water from chunks of ice broken off from the Harding Ice Field in Prince William Sound. Their web site says this ice was formed in the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. They don’t admit to using rifles or chainsaws so perhaps their motto should be “No icebergs were harmed in the making of this vodka.” The company makes multiple flavors of vodka with names like “Permafrost” and “Frostbite”. Check out our Entertaining page for wild ideas and recipes for entertaining Alaskan style.