There’s nothing like ending a night with a really great vodka martini. Shaken or stirred, dirty or with a twist, it’s just perfection.

But there’s a whole lot of other ways to appreciate vodka, and with National Vodka Day coming up on October 4, these cocktails are a beautiful start in preparing to broaden our vodka horizons.

This Friday, Tattersall Distilling will officially launch their new Rosso Gin in the Northeast cocktail room. 

“I don’t have any money invested in Mattel,” co-owner Dan Oskey told me on the phone this morning. 

The rosy-hued gin hits at a remarkably good time, what with Barbie-mania gripping the world this summer. “We were actually supposed to launch this last summer,” Oskey told me, “but we had issues with the labeling, certain permitting and licensing, so we had to wait for this year to release it.” Lucky the universe mucked up the machine, because now could not be a better time to drink pink.

Award winning craft distillery, Tattersall Distilling, announced the launch of its new canned cocktail line, reformulated to have less sugar, fewer calories and a lower ABV of 4.5%. Cocktails include Tattersall’s Key Lime Gin + Tonic and Blueberry Basil Collins, along with its newest can, Grapefruit + Ginger. Now available in four-packs of individual flavors, six-can variety packs featuring two of each flavor are currently on shelves across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Summer is here, and that means you’re increasingly likely to find yourself standing beside a grill, clicking tongs and asking anyone within earshot to bring you a fresh beer.

Perhaps you’ve never heard of Kernza, a perennial grain. Yet the drought-tolerant grass might just show up in your next happy hour, as Tattersall Distilling Co. releases its new Tattersall Kernza Perennial Grain Whiskey.  

It is the first 100% Kernza whiskey in the country, and it is being launched with a tasting and celebration on April 29 in River Falls.  

Jon Kreidler is the founder and chief officer of Tattersall Distilling, and upon the release of their Interstate Whiskey, he expressed his joy over the pending approval of a classification allowing distillers to officially label an American single malt whiskey. “As a member of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, we have been anxiously awaiting the federal government’s approval of the American single malt whiskey designation.

Minnesota’s distinguished cocktail distiller sure feels like it belongs in Wisconsin after one visit to the spectacular new 75,000-square-foot facility in River Falls. Just 25 minutes from downtown St. Paul (or 40 minutes from its original northeast Minneapolis home), Tattersall surprises no one with co-founder Dan Oskey’s glorious cocktails.

But the quality of the food, from executive chef Jonathan Newman, pleasantly surprised me. A creamy trout dip pays homage to the nearby Kinnickinnic River, and several dishes nicely utilize Tattersall spirits, like the whiskey-glazed pork belly bites.

Wisconsin’s Tattersall Distilling recently launched its Interstate Whiskey, which was inspired by the first interstate park in the nation.

A statement from the distiller notes that this expression, Tattersall’s first American single malt, has been in the making for more than five years. You’ll be able to find a bottle in Minnesota and Wisconsin starting now.

“As a member of the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, we have been anxiously awaiting the federal government’s approval of the American single malt whiskey designation,” said Jon Kreidler, founder and chief officer of Tattersall Distilling, in the prepared statement.

There’s a new trending spirit in town that’s starting to demand space of its own: aquavit. Thanks to its deep herbal profile, usability in cocktails, and ease of production, aquavit has been popping up on drink menus around the world.

It all started over a drink. As things do.

Bentley Gillman, Tattersall’s chief distiller, is a bit of a mad scientist messing with side projects that may or may not see the fast track of the distillery’s production line. One of the projects he had been working on earlier this year was a rice-based spirit in the style of shochu.